WMC's diary pages, 2005.

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2005/05/01. Sunday. Fine, indeed rather hot.

Misc quiet am.

Finally decide to go off to Thetford forest for the afternoon (D wants to go to Parkside, but I refuse to be inside on such a lovely afternoon). Just off down the garden for some reason and check on bees - lots of activity, nothing odd - and think: if there was a swarm, where would it be... and look around... and see a few bees... and spot the large swarm hanging from some brambles. Ah... so, next 3/4 h spent hiving that, MED watching, all goes well. But that just about blows going out, when... phone call from Geoff: his neighbour has bees. Oh just what I needed. And just off to do that when MRs #22 comes over. Fortunately she just has a few in her air vent, so a bit of fly spray clears that. #45 is harder: look around (its an airey, ie voids) and decide that they may be in there, but if so nothing I can do. I feel that this is a bit of a let down by me; otoh she asks if she owes me anything for the service!

After that: walk to the rec the back way (even M comes, when kids complain that she never does), picking up JE in the process, E reluctant to walk, meet Hannah and Kesia (and James) there. They (it later transpires) have gone there to meet N, who is away until a bit later, so as well we turned up. Esther turns up to collect JE (with a bike trailer, she can carry JE and Martha on a bike seat, 3 at once!), N arrives, we stay chatting to James. Back late, returning by back-of-the-church (Meseglise?) way.

2005/05/02. Monday. Again fine, but cooler.

To beach! Up 8, out before 9, pick up NP, to beach before 11 (stopping briefly by river/canal after 1h ish).

Forecast was marginal: I nearly cancelled: light rain predicted. Day was wonderful: warm and sunny, with a useful rainstorm at 5 to push us off.

At the beach, we head as usual for our favourite white beach hut and set up camp. Kids dig and play in the sand, roughly in the obvious pairings. I gunk them up, over their protests. After a bit we go to the cafe and buy new spades, nice metal ones, and have a drink. Back to digging. Light lunch we brought. All the while the weather remains good and I get in some quiet lying in the sun with my hat over my face and listening to their happy cries.

At 2 the unthinkable happens: someone comes to claim the beachhut! We move off of course, and they are nice about it, so we just move to the one next door.

Later we go down to the sea (just for once its in, so its not a long way). D would like a river to dam but settles for digging channels from the tide pond. N splashes and runs in it... but... gets a shell-cut to her foot which hurts a lot and knocks her out from swimming at all: a bit sad because she was the only one who really did want to swim. I alternate between helping with the diggings and standing back watching and taking the odd photo.

After this back to the cafe: buy ice creams for them, cake-and-coffee for me, and a pack of plasters for N's foot. Then back to our encampment for more fun. DN go off to explore, EP are more settled. Fun all round.

Start back a bit after 5: awful traffic in OH; turn round and go country; awful again heading for Kings Lynn; loose about 1h. Back nearly 8; drop NP; home; food; baths; bed for children.

Discover that the boiler pilot light has gone out and fail to relight it. Hmmm. Find this rather depressing: I could do without this just now.

Again, DE have gone to sleep in the spare bedroom.

2005/05/03. Tuesday. Later, rain.

So back to work after more than a week. Set to the task of reducing my emails, which have not been pruned for rather a long time: cut back to less than 100 by removing entirely some old faithfuls I'd almost got fond of...

Describe boiler troubles at smoko; Phil Anderson volunteers to come back at lunchtime and have a look (he is known for understanding domestic hot water and gas...). And so he does, and after staring at it for a while he *actually follows the instructions* and it lights. The bit I'd got wrong was that after sliding the button to the right and releasing, you then had to *press* it on the next step, and I missed that. Easy to do. Thanks Phil.

Sit by fire with paper and sudoku. Weather is grey: not promising for tennis unless it lets up. But... it does. Talk with Ian, then to sch. Pick up kids, who all seem eager; send off DB ahead and catch them up; pick up NP at N's and off we go, a b it faster this time as we arrive in good time. DNBP go off, E is sad not to be able to join in, so we watch. Talk to Heather. A few spots of rain; biscuits afterwards; kids ramp while I talk to someones grandmother who is selling her house in France. Slowly back: DNB ahead and we find them in the wood; P is slowing and wobbling. EP go in after; later E comes out and tries P's bike for a bit with my help. Then... turns, runs, falls, and grazes both knees, blood wells up, she is sad. Oh dear. Wail wail wail. Head home after that, and after a bit have to give P a lift and carry his bike. P is very quiet: his mode of becoming sad is not D's or E's or indeed almost anyone elses: he just is quiet.

Back to N's. DNB trampoline; P wants to be inside and have food and is close to tears/bed; E gets plastered. Then goes out to tramp, but that doesn't work. I go off to see if Rick is playing football: he is. I have my tea and talk to him while he is goalie, when the action is at the far end. Who is playing? I ask. BAs, he replies, surprised. And I recognise a few: Andy Clark; 2 women, Rob Arthern. But not most of them. Back to kids; Nick back, talk allots. Drag kids away as it starts to rain, and as we come down St P's it becomes heavy, DB complaining bitterly but not cycling any faster. Back and sit by fire with cocoa. Dinner, M back. E bed.

D reads quietly to himself (Asterix; Bob the Builder; from the big story book), so quietly that he gets to exceed his bedtime. Will he learn from that?

Soir: brief wiki; email; stoat:Oreskes again; Civ.

2005/05/04. Wednesday. Cloudy/wet.

Drive D to sch; then with E to Willingham (berrycroft) to buy some bee stuff: mostly brood foundation (3 packs in total, some for N), but also new gloves, another wired excluder, and a pack of spacers. Total £62. On the way there (and back) E bops along to the Clash, should I stay or should I go. Next step is smoko, and after that experiment with driving into town, to park at Parkside. This works, but I don't care for driving into town. We go to the pool, but very rapidly E reaslises this is a mistake, because her scraped knees hurt when wet. So after 5-10 mins we get out again. To arj/cb1, then collect the dry cleaning (which takes a while, as I turn out my pockets looking for the ticket, which turns out to be at home), then to car and to Seymour road health centre for E's eye check. This is like an adult one except E has a card to point to the letters, but she manages to say some of them too! E is OK; we are advised to re-check after n years, where n might be 2, 4 or even 8.

So, now its just past 2. What to do? Decide to try Lammas land playground (E flatly refuses to go for a nice walk along the river). And she plays around a bit, but the weather is poor and we are the only ones there! Its cold. Head off for Orchard: coffee and soup for me; hot choc for her. Then its time to pick up from school.

Don't do a lot with my free pm: civ a bit, then make up enough frames to fill the spare (#3) hive.

Soir: out to pub with A+S, have a good time, mostly politics but uncontroversially so, which is nice. Also only 2 1/2 pints, which is good for my head...

2005/05/05. Thursday. Cool.

Vote for me! And I do. Traffic is light.

Work, slightly thick-headed. Talk about the SH/Ant warming, are we going in circles or spirals? Send it off I say. Yoga. Quick snatch of lunch, then talk: genie stuff from some guy from Brit Columbia. The CO2-lifetime stuff was interesting but the rest rather dull. And it went on too long. Realise that I should be talking to MG re curriculum stuff: oops. After, to town: cb1, then buy pritsticks (my commission) and get money for M'a. I'm still feeling rather muzzy. Get a card for Ma and head back homewards. I have a bit of free time before picking up D so start on an open task: collecting Parish Plan questionnaires from Sadlers Close. Of 12 houses, I have 1 already; I get 2 more; 4 are out; 5 get a reminder to finish; everyone is kind. Realise that because its election day I am being mistaken for a canvasser...

Pick up D (help him tidy up k-nex); send him home; get happy E. Home ourselves. M is back, and a bit of new wood has turned up, but nothing else obvious: behind the scenes some electrics I gather. I'm feeling really rather wacked so rest while M cooks. Later, take old pooter apart with D, rescuing cd-rom, floppy, psu and one stick of memory; bit the rest.

Baths for DE. I stoat: twice: Peisner's abstracts and JA's bets. M is on p/sch stuff and work, poor her.

2005/05/06. Friday.

Listen to the news: Blur in again, but reduced (exit polls were exactly correct). We didn't retain our deposit :-( and I did OK (8-9%: 432 votes). HKR complains I let the tories in: I reply, tough, people vote Green not libdem for good reasons. Misc work, home 2, builders still there.

Pick up E from M's and P from sch: D is at multi-S and going on to A+C, in "payment" for tuesdays (we didn't ask, they offered). So we have a quiet time until DN turn up. N brings over NP's sleeping bags for the sleepover and leaves me to it. M is off to a concert tonight (so at NNN) by Ilga and a teenage protege, so I get to bed the infants but they are no trouble.

The trouble is I get hooked on another civ game and it eats my evening...

2005/05/07. Saturday. Sunny, cool, windy.

Well I ended up staying up till 1 am Civ'ing last night, which is silly, but I still find Civ rather addictive. Bad me.

Up 9: builders are here and doing stuff on the roof. I had wanted to do PP stuff today, but it seems I need to go into town: to get Ma a cake, and a present (photos, mostly from summer hols) and a new printer cartridge. So I do, and have a coffee in cb1 waiting for the 1h photos to be printed. Home. Lunch. With DE upstairs watching Bill the roofer flaming. Drag them away to pool, meeting BGSAC there, and we have a good swim (though D would still like to go to parkside). After, CB are off to London, and I take DEN to the sailing club, since its the open day. N is more interested than DE and keen to have a sail: they have some of the larger boats out so they both get a go. E puts on life jacket then wimps out at last moment so I stay with her on the bank. Its very windy. We all have tea-squash-cakes, play hide and seek, and head home.

Intend dropping N but NN are out: N(elson) says they are car buying, or looking, so hang around a bit (E bounces, I sit in warm greenhouse sudoku'ing) then leave a note and go home for dinner (pizza). N arrives for N at 6:45 and she goes; quietly thereafter: M reads/translates Lucky Luck Painful Gulch to D for bedtime.

Soir: misc webby stuff and... a bit of civ. M online too, writing her Claudius presentation.

I go to bed after civ'ing at midnight: M crawls in at what I later discover is quarter to 4!

2005/05/08. Sunday. Sun, cool, showers (hail).

Half expecting a roofer to wake us, but no. Noises off, up 9, quick b'fast then tidying in expectation of Ma. Sadly the l'room has gone a long way down so a lot of cleaning is required. Break 10 for coffee; stop at 11 to go off and collect some PP forms. Back to it, finally halted by Ma arriving a bit early: phew. Of course she is too kind to comment on the mess.

So: misc. Lunch is booked for 1:30 at the pub: we were the second booking when I did it on friday and I nearly didn't bother. But when we get there only our table is empty: they are doing well. Since it was showery, MED drove and Ma and I walked, mostly at her insitagation. Several hailstorms and showers earlier: its a convective day. Lunch good, children ditto, though Ma thought her lamb a bit tough. Going back E decides to walk with us and does. We stop to see the allot first, and pick spinach which is growing well. Home just before another storm. I do some backup of Ma's satellite, she has some odd intermittent boot problem so is worried, but who knows.

M has been sleepy all day and finally flakes out about 4 and crawls off to bed. We have a'noon b'day cake for Ma with 7 candles without her. Happy 71st to Ma: she is having no more b'days it seems. Talk about the extension and stuff. Later dinner (which M must have helped with, so have I got the order wrong here?... anyway, who cares exactly), E's bedtime is suddenly on us and Ma's going time just after.

D is upstairs with M, I'm downstairs with Civ, I go up to get him and discover E is there too: chase them both to bed. M wakes up, downstairs for some work, and now (11:20) is playing the piano, ahving been determined to go to bed early. I shall beat her...

E comes into our bed again in the middle of the night, which is cute but too frequent and not good for our sleeping.

2005/05/09. Monday. Rain.

Kids school. Mollie has had a hairdo and is glossy (she is a dog, of course).

Work: Sharp / Yoga / AJs thinclient; hadgem ppn. Home 6:30.

Misc. Soir: Civ; brief wiki; review tomorrows talk; mail; stoat; skype (test123 works; calling M doesn't). M pianos, works and does some "urgent" pre school stuff. Her talk that she spent so long preparing went well today. She gets to bed pre-11.

2005/05/10. Tuesday. Mixed.

To Hills Road Six Form College at 1 to re-give my "cafe scientifique" cl ch talk, at the invitation of Anna Hall (familiar feel of school from my days, except its mixed, so you gets students snogging in the corridors). It goes well: good questions. 18 present, and Anna says this is good for phys soc. Now its 2. What? to cb1. Then back to sch for 3:30: in theory N is taking E too to tennis (under some protest) but I want to ask E, who (to my surprise) says she would rather stay with me. OK: that makes it easy for N. Stay till 4, E playing. Home via BW, meeting SoBtB who says roofer on thurs (perhaps) and insul is walls.

Home, leave E inside and "do" bees: main hive OK, lots of new, not granulating at all yet, some but not much capped. New gloves feel lovely. Swarm hive is not so great: busy yes, new brood yes, but in the super. Oops. Put one super selected at random under the queen excluder and hope. Main hive: there was a birds nest under the eaves at the top! The cutest little white-with-red-spots eggs, about 8. Xfer them to a bird box and hope.

Get DEB at 5:30, talk with N misc.

Soir: out 7:30 to PP meeting at which we all bring in our questionnaires. Happily Diana Bray has agreed to data-entry them, so apart from a brief discussion of what to do with the text comments (do those after) there isn't a lot to say, so back home by 8:30.

Waste much of the rest of the evening on Civ, and some on wiki. Useful bit is stoat: on the talk today.

2005/05/11. Wednesday.

2005/05/12. Thursday.

2005/05/13. Friday.

Lunch at work with Todd/Tom/JCK/AJen. Misc work then home. Sparks is back at work fixing in a few sockets. He knocks off (forgetting to turn off his radio: shades of the penguin) just before I go to school. I don't need to: N will pick up E: but I'm free, its sunny and blowy so I can. Sit on the wall, watch the happy kids, pick up E from M'a and pass her along to N (DN in multi sports of course). Talk to Ian, who happens by: more roof expected this weekend; discuss Party Walls and Mrs B.

Home. A bit of bee-ing: check the hive: yesterdays clearer-board has not yet worked (I had hoped maybe to do it today) so put an empty super under all, clearer, 2 supers, clearer, super: and hope that will be OK when I get back to it. Small civ. Sit on front doorstep in sun with coffee and sudoku, twice. A bit of gardening. Some economist. A quiet afternoon. Even pack a bit. M back with kids 7; quick pack; off 8. Arrive 10; kids to bed, us to kitchen; D comes down for bread tehn

2005/05/14. Saturday.

Soir: finally finish Civ, free for a bit longer, so time to work back and fill in my missing days, from wednesady on. Oops. So...

Laze in bed late, since I can. DE up early - in to us around 7:30, want this and that and can we have the TV on? No, apart from anything else its in F's room.

Up past 10. Leisurely breakfast, D and I steal toast off each other. The plan for today is for us all to go out to leave M to practice, so just before 12 we do, all squeezing into our car (F in front, MJDE in back) and we wave bye to M. E is in her lovely new skirt and top, from F of course, and wellies.

We are to Cogges farm museum, near Whitney. I'm not quite sure why I want to go to a farm museum, but I don't mind, and the kids are quite delightful at the moment so I don't even try to stay back with M. There is some pain getting there - the marked route on the leaflet leads us through Whitney, which is v slow and unpleasant - and then the car park is gratuitously mis-signposted and leads us to drive up a non-road track for a bit before a local points out our error and we reverse. So I drop the others off and drive round the True Path. Once inside (not cheap: £4.40 for me) there are various things. They are watching a sheep-shearing, which I find fascinating, but then DE wander off to look at the spinning etc. I find that a bit odd - the spinning is interesting too but sheep-shearing, with the struggling sheep and the clippers and the fleece gently falling off, is more so. To me. But the spinning is done by some nice older ladies, and they explain to D how it is done, and the carding and stuff, and he is very interested, and comes back several times, and even has a go at helping - there is a special hand-machine (japanese) for winding spun wool into a nice ball. Then there is some egg-finding. It turns out (J asks them) that shearing sheep is a net cost: a fleece goes for about £0.60 p (if its in good shape) but it costs more than that to shear them. But you have to shear them or they get too hot. And thats how the modern world goes... Sit in bit of talk (slide show!) that JEF are in, about the history of the Cotswold sheep. When the lady giving it taps her stick on the ground, someone changes the slide, but E thinks its by magic.

Lunch: a bit odd, because food is rather limited, partly cos its 2:30 not 1:30 as my watch stopped. So, soup and sandwiches and not-so-good coffee. D doesn't really eat but plays outside in the playground while we eat, D drinking the can of Lilt I let him have.

D and I fin first so we head back. We have, just about, done most of the things, its not such a big place, though there are a few random bits of machinery, some ducklings etc to see. We go through the walled orchard (now picnic) down cute paths to the river Windrush, and walk along. They have done the paths to the river very well - meandering through meadows - but haven't cut a path down to the river - H+S probably, don't want to encourage, etc - which is a bit sad. D forges down anyway and gets a bit stung for his pains. Walk back in big circle and find others. Its nearly milking time: watch this: takes maybe 20 mins to empty the cow (which has a calf too). I've never seen this before, jetts of milk squirting out. What do they do with it? Leave it to settle, skim off the cream (and make butter from it) then give the skimmed milk to the pigs. But... of course they can't sell the butter (H+S tedium) so have to bin it :-(. Sad.

Now its 4:30: time to go: go back the other way (one track road) with CD3 of LoTR on, at Rivendell. I don't think it works as well, as a re-enactment, as it did in the Hobbit as a telling. Too bombastic: people can't really *say* many of the things written.

Back: M welcomes us in. Early baths for DE so we can have dinner in time to watch Doctor Who! Which D is v keen to. We all watch. Its one of the tedious go-back-in-time-to-save/kill-your-father type stories, with a twist that strange monsters are turning up to kill people on the wrong branch. Well.

Soir: finish Civ, write, bed.

2005/05/15. Sunday. M's piano. Lovely day.

Up late again, in fact by this time D is out with Mfd to the playground.

Sit outside with coffee - again its sunny, but today not windy and hence rather nice and warm.

About 12, everyone else off to town for lunch, meeting Si+B. M and I will drive in separately, M asking me to stay with her, so we get a quiet lunch at home. get in about 2:30, park in M'len college school just nearby, as we get out find others there. Into Hildas, which presents a particularly attractive appearence - v quiet (where are all the students?), green lawns down to the river, punts, cricket fields and M'len tower beyond. Find Ma drinking coffee on the lawns a bit further. With M, check we know where the building is (OK) and where we are in the schedule (ages to go) so we can relax. Kids run around, we chat, etc.

Back 10:30. Just time for webbing and RC post on dimming (forgetting title - argh - but Gavin fixes it for me). Bed past 12.

2005/05/16. Monday. Rain.

Work / Yoga / Directors talk / EWW: Cache talk / W. Home about 6. Out 7:30 to PC planning meeting, we all agree is near pointless, since the only action is to vote "no comment" on a planning application. Hey ho.

Home: wiki: good: rfa finally starting to resolve, and (better) articles starting to stabalise. Misc posts of OD.net. Stoat on sudoku and funding. Which brings me back to the directors talk. Slightly hard to interpret exactly, but the general gist was that budgets are going to get very tight. Oh great.

M to bed early, me to bed just before midnight...

2005/05/17. Tuesday. Sun, but cool out of it.

Work (feeling a bit sleepy), home 2. Go look at bees, decide to take off the 3 supers from main hive. Do so: top one OK, lower two a bit harder, all starting to granulate... not a moment too soon! Leave them inside for later.

Sch 3:30. Pick up DEPNB. P sad: in tears (I've never seen him thus): bicycle troubles. To N's: set DNB on ahead: P and E sit on my bike, off we go. Tennis: all goes well. I get to do a sudoku: Clare comes past with Stan to watch, and there is a small-kids informal play on an empty court, E with S. Nikola stops by too, both she and Clare are carefully cnsidering whether its worth doing the paid sessions after half-term. Whereas I consider its a good deal, but if NB drop out, D might be less keen? Hmmm.

Cycle back: N takes P as far as the woods, then leaves us. Kids head in at a nnew place, the corner, and get into the field beyond, now long grass, long enough for them to play hide-and-seek when they lie down in it. So thats lots of fun. Call them back around 5:30 - time to head back, sorry. Poor D is then dragged past an interesting combine harvester type thing about to start up (or not: they are standing around it talking): N is not interested at all, B a bit. Back to N's, stop to talk a bit, DNB on the rec. Go look at honey extractor: doesn't need a clean.

Home: past 6. M just back (from interview: Frontier Silicon). Leave kids with her and take car to collect extactor, this only takes a few mins. Back home, dinner turns into pan bread, ie slow, so after some cornfalkes for the kids, me hoovering up, then getting annoyed with D for asking me "when are we doing the extracting" when the answer is "when I've finished cleaning up your mess, like I have to do every day, its very boring, why don't you make less mess", we actually have fun doing the extracting. There is less granulation than I'd feared, and most comes out, and since there is little capping its really quite easy and unmessy. Get through the 3 supers in about 1 hour, with a bit of help from D, and even E gets up on a stool to help turn the handle. Leave it to settle o'night.

Soir: misc. Wiki my thoughts on experts, take 1 ish. Stoat on honey and RP.

2005/05/18. Wednesday. Warm and sunny.

D to sch; E and I burble a bit: I've brought a dahlia and leave it there, and cut back a bush putting it into Ians bin (having asked him... also quizzed him on progress). Back with E; misc the smoko then Germ/Swim/Arj/Cafe-de-Paris/Lib/M+S(underpants)/Back. So that was all very pleasant and as usual (except cb1 closed, so to CdP). And i don't often buy underpants... not often enough, some might say!

DE are to O/N's for the afternoon, and Joanna takes them, while I sit on the wall and enjoy the sun. Ian reports on plans-for-progess (next week). Home.

Tidy a bit, then setup honey to bottle, realise it needs a second filter so that slows stuff down a bit. MED back 6:30, but DE seem to be camping in the car!

After E's bed D helps with bottling a bit. 17 lbs so far.

Soir: misc computations, update EGP website, now for more bottling... past midnight... 30lbs total.

2005/05/19. Thursday. Rain, not too bad.

Work; talk (a bit long) by Ed Andreas on boundary layer stuff. Start up various fallen over runs. Then... rain. To town (and on the way I ***saw a weasel***, the first for ages. It was on the road to the Cavendish, where there is field to the right. It ran across the road (going from Madingley rd side to field), stopped on the edge, looked at me for a second, then went through the fence. I stopped, went back, stood in the field for a minute then saw it running away from me, in a bounding fashion through the grass), Heffers for lunch (singularity sky) then Borders (find a New Humanist). Home about 5. Read G2, nothing much.

Pick up D then E; cook (getting a bit carried away: pasta for them, pots and aub for us, except when it comes to it neither of us is v hungry. Sigh. And there is still mondays kedgeree left).

E a bit sad by bedtime, partly cos I'm tidying and M is in near-vid-game mode by the fire with a sudoku. D gets enthusistic and he stays up till 9 doing one with my help, while M baths. He can pretty well do it, if given suggestions as to which 3x3 to look at and what number, and can sometimes do some all by himself. I ask him about the one he took to school and he says, a bit wistfully, that the older friend he was going to do it with got bored.

Soir: webby stuff: create wiki:AWS and some others, else quiet. M plays piano, perhaps for pleasure, now pressure is off. Bed *early*, sort of, ie just after 11.

2005/05/20. Friday. Fine then rain late.

Wake early in sun. Builders at 8. Nearly late to sch but not quite - E late having b'fast so leave M to take her and go with D. Still take him to classroom though there is no need at all: sometime I'm going to have to stop doing this.

Work: another talk (tides and heinrich; perhaps a bit speculative).

Stop off on way back on FP to check where the new post needs to go and where the old one is: find this OK, say hello to cows and sheep, a nice walk.

Home, builders still at work (good!). Misc. Pick up E from M'a and P from sch. E wants to play out; P wants to play on the computer, so I let him. Quiet. Sudoku from todays paper: hmm, quite diff.

Get ND after multi sports. Wash up. Start cook. M back just before 6 so leave it to her and retreat to Sudoku, then come back and help later.

N collect 7, by which time its pouring with rain.

Soir misc online. Wikipeace, at least nearly.

2005/05/21. Saturday.

To town sans b'fast, get it at Heffers, where I nearly finish Singularity sky: quite good, but common IMB type problem: excess powers. This lasts till 12 when I really ought to go. Its raining. Wait 5 mins, OK, to Ox, then back, then it *really* rains an I get quite wet. Home, and towel self dry and spread coat to dry and find wet wallet. Etc.

D is on pooter; E misc, M tired. What to do? DE want to swim, Parkside? OK. Not cycle in (still raining) so risk car. Several car parks full but happy not Queen Anne (p'side) so OK. And its good, E even ends up doing a bit of "swimming". D gets to go on the flumes, twice, and really enjoys it; but is thwarted in his desire for #3 when they shut. E is just a bit too small to go with me on a double. After: cb1, where they are both good; briefly arj then germ toy shop. Woman looks a bit grumpy, perhaps, but custom is thin.

Back to car and back to home. Then out again: to springwell apiaries (ie, John Rayner) to collect jars, 2 gross. Get off M11 too early (not Dux mus jn, next one) then OK. Nice chap, good chat, his prices for foundation are good too. Then... nightmare on way back, since turn wrong way on M11 and end up going 16 miles to Standstead then back. Argh. Drop 1 gross with Simon, say hello to George and Maddie (but they don't say hello back...) then home just before 8, to cold-but-nice pizza etc.

2005/05/22. Sunday. Sun/rain.

Get a lie in, then up. Tidy, b'fast with DE. Coffee for a rest, then set out to tidy outside. Cut grass front and back, mostly. Stop for lunch. Jo brings SW round, chat.

Take a look into "spare" hive since it has an awaful lot of bees in/around it. Can't quite work out what is going on. most of those inside are at the top, and seem to be despoiting (not taking excess) honey. No sign of queen/brood. Hmm, I'm confused, so leave it.

Use cast-off roofing tar/felt to patch holes in two ex-water tanks that SE left me - this seems to work OK and isn't as hard as I expected. D watches. Lug them into the car, and the extractor, and the new waymark post. Persuade D along: he is lego-ing and needs some persuasion but also needs to get out somewhat.

First drop extractor with N: N has friends round so don't invite her. Put tanks at back of allot where roof will fill them (I hope) - really needs a gutter. Then to start of FP, near bin brook (all the while listening to LoTR, we're on the 2towers, edoras). D plays in stream a bit while I get stuff out, then off we go, me with post, him with spade. Push through herd of cows and a rather bold sheep, its very pleasant and green and spring, though with M11 noise. Find sopt; dig holes as best I can and put in post, hammer, and refill and hammer. GK has a "drift" I could have borrowed but lets see if this will do, if not I'll come back with said drift. As we head back rain slowly starts then winds up... to pub (I gave D choice of pub or orchard). Now its 4. Summer lightning for me, lime-and-soda for D, and peanuts (no twiglets :-(). M'a etc come in, so I get to ask Jodie if she can b'sit this weds. Yes. So we *can* go to the beer fest. As we're in the pub, rain hammers down, so after to the allot to check the water tanks... not a lot so far. It does need a gutter.

Home. M is cooking. Finish grass cutting (which is now v wet of course). Builders bits need a tidy: must speak to Ian. Food, then after baths for kids, the bl**dy pilot light went out again so water cool, this is getting a bit much.

D wants bonfire, so collect up some wood and take it down, and notice... a swarm of bees! Aha. Not huge, but OK, phone N, get Nick. He comes over, cool and unflappable, and collects it rather well, using a brush to brush them off the branch, and patiently waits (gentle rain starts) for the last few stragglers. Then I tape it up, and off he goes: good luck.

Inside. Wiki (grrr), mail. Fill in PP questionnaire (belatedly), realise I don't have elec expense forms, oops, mail for them.

2005/05/23. Monday.

W / Y / W, leave 6.

Having asked Mr-will-be-anonymous for advice, try to fix the pilot light that keeps blowing out on the boiler (its getting silly now and not lasting a day). Step 1 (always the hardest) is to get the cover off: it needs to be unscrewed, then pulled out a bit, then swung from the bottom a bit, then lifted. OK. Clean near light with toothbrush - awkward. Reassemble, its worse than ever. Argh. Thinks... try again, but this time remove the manifold/protection around the jet. Ah: now I can get to it, and see the gunk building up, and clean it. Reassemble: better: visibly larger flame, that actually touches the thermistor, and! it stays lit. Hurrah.

D has made some more rather nice "stained glass" stuff.

2005/05/24. Tuesday.

Work till time to pick up E: sea ice ancils again.

Get E, talk to Ian re house, D off with N to tennis. Back home, E quiet, sit ouside. E cuts finger, so inside for plaster and cuddles and story time. Eventually N finds us lying down by the fire, so I get up to talk about PC plotting. Cook pasta/broccoli, M back just after 6. I'm tired.

7: off to PC meeting, lasts till past 10, but it is the annual one. Ross prop GK for chair, no sec, falls. N prop me for vice, no sec, falls. So we're back to the same old faces. Apart from that, and being too long due to rambling, OK.

2005/05/25. Wednesday. Hot.

Since E has hurt her hand, skip swimming (she is sensitive about this since her knee). The builders are building (well, when we leave for smoko, they are having their tea break, but in principle they are working...). Town (finding the footpath closed, so diverting through the Cavendish. Stupidly, they have shut the end near we normally go through, so the diversion is longer than it has to be). Germ cafe, lib, arj/cb1 (nearly CdP but at last minute E agrees she likes CB1). Then Handle Shop in Drakes (recommended by Ian) and E has fun. What a lot there are. Then realise I've forgotten JQ... oops, phone, but he is out. Heffers for D's glass paints, which he is really keen on, and for some reason we're buying not him. £2/tube: black (leading) and brown.

Soir: Jodie arrives on time and we head off for the Beer Festival, arriving at about 8 just as A+S turn up. A jumps the q, being camra, and S stays with us. Inside buy glasses and find C+A and -gasp- Dinan, the father-to-be. And go get some cider. And it ends up a good evening, sitting outside and drinking. S & I talk some politics, general, organistaional. A has a new toy, a photo-displayer with 40G disk: doesn't seem that useful to me.

Back somewhat past 11; M takes J home.

2005/05/26. Thursday. Hot.

Again, building noises early. DE sch; work, setting off C20C/seaice type runs with CO2 forcing. After, to town, meeting JQ at 1 to get his expense form signed. Chat for an hour over coffee, which is maybe longer than it should be. After to Ox, then read SS at W'stones, but I'm skipping, its become generic.

Homewards. Stop at allot to pull up a few weeds - more needed. Then home, wiki (sane for the moment), sit out in sun with paper and RoG on Heinrich. Add a stub Heinrich events article.

Mr Box comes round, ok, but I cancel next weeks. Then its time to get D and E. Discuss HP with D on the way back: he is keen to read the books.

Penny phoned us: phone back: its about the bit-of-land-at-the-back over the stream: sold, apparently. To whom?

Cook: pots, aub, sos: good. M back 6:15. Me out 7:30 to gov finance meeting but nothing much: drags out to 45 mins though.

Soir: M out for a while getting cheques signed. I update school web (Mrs Leepers page) and PP (last 2 sets of mins from Stu).

2005/05/27. Friday. Very hot.

Note through the door: M'a sick (or does she just want a long weekend?). Sigh.

Work, briefly, then back by 12 to pick up E from p/school. Its hot hot hot!

Where to go? Home (via talk with G at BW). Misc. Decide to go to orchard pm to get some flowers for the front to beautify the foot of the plum tree: normally I wouldn't bother but it helps to balance the disastrous state of the rest, partly because of the building. Choose some yellow/orange marigolds, a joint decision but with consistency by me.

As we wend homewards, E sees the car, so it must be M, so we follow her home. A little while later I take E to school, since De are going to Adams from after multisports (D because Helen wants A to do something other than play football: either because D is considered more cerebral, or because he merely won't play football). E is happy to go play with Viv; and Paula takes them all.

Peace!

Stoat on the CCC climate document. Wiki: arbcomm case is now formally the cl ch dispute, which is good.

2005/05/28. Saturday. Sunny, cooler, windy.

Up late, just in time to talk to BtB, who has come round to smooth over the limestone (and skip) trubble.

11: off to allot to cut grass. Mower in car (lazy) at same time as ME go off to w'rose. Take 2 jars honey to fresh produce stall (first of the year) and D and Cory have cycled down. ME off, I take mower in. DC go off to N's (she is out, off to Germany, but N lets them use the trampoline) while I set to cutting the grass, which takes an hour. Hot in the strong sun. DC back, and to keep them occupied I let them bash up some old fencing (Ben and Sophie are having their back fencing renewed, by what turns out to be a Czech who can speak v little english: but yes, its junk, so turn them loose). They have fun with this while I plant out three courgettes I bought from the stall. then it turns out that one bit shouldn't have been bashed: oops. Never mind, B+S will get a new gate too!

Then to the pub for a drink, and DC play pool (or their version of). ME come back just as they are finishing, while I'm talking to Tim (and a chap called Richard). This is proper village pub stuff: going in without your mates but finding someone anyway. We go home, and I follow up by cutting the field at the back and some of the lawn. Then a quick bath, and get out at 14:25 because I realise its time to take E to Gemmas party. And I do (E requests me: she likes us both, she says, but I am the person who takes her to things). Meanwhile B comes round to us. E wears her best party frock, new from F.

M goes off to get present for Olivia tomorrow, and I have DB then DakC to try to keep happy. They split, after a bit, into DC and DakB, the former quiet, the latter not, and argue somewhat. I throw them outside, and threaten to send CDak home. In the end 4:30 intervenes and we set off to get E after G's party. All there happy, though a bit shattered as one usually is after such things. I hang around till about 6, sicne D has been invited over and E's status is unclear. I bowl for BDakC who want to play cricket, and even get D out for a bit. But at 6 Andy offers to keep them both for supper and Dr Who, and invites me to watch. So home, and hours peace (or it would have been only I stopped to talk over the bit-of-land-behind, with Tony, which turns out to have been sold to the CPS I think, and they thing maybe). Back for Dr Who, and to my surprise M comes too. It turns out to be part II (the empty child) and is reasonably good: not totally logically coherent, but nonetheless exciting, scary, well done and hangs together.

Fin 7:40 hence E back past her bedtime and wants to eat so bed late. I wash up and hoover while M beds E and D looks up Dr Who on the web.

Then... soir: sit out till past 9 reading Dialogue...: its lovely out, birds and greenery though a bit cool. Come in and wiki (little); then this then bed.

2005/05/29. Sunday.

My day to get up, which I do at 9. Quiet morning.

I strim quite a bit of the wilder portions of the back garden (getting bee stung once for my pains). This leaves me covered with bits of plant, strimming is a messy process.

pm: to pool, parkside again, and M comes this time. Difficult finding a space in Q.A.: their counter says 200+ but is clearly faulty. Have a good time; M and I both go down the flume with D. After, CB1: crowded. Its a go playing time: Phil Beck invites me but I decline, slightly cowardly, but we're off soon. And we are...

M to bed past 12, sudoku taking its toll on her, she sits on the loo in the bathroom to finish one. A bit annoying.

2005/05/30. Monday. Mostly sun, a bit of rain.

A day at home. C/Dak come round in the morning but are reasonably restrained: nonetheless I tell them not to come back till about 5 in the afternoon so we can get some peace. Make bread at D's req, and he plaits a loaf.

I find time to write abstract 2 (EVP) for NZ.

D is spending quite a bit of his time reading HP&tPS, and I won't tell him who gave him the invisibility cloak and stuff. He asks Dak, who knows the series I think.

More strimming, finishing the bits nearer the house, then a bit over the stream: the path there is nearly closing up, and will in a year or two. Rumours that the CPS have bought the land from the Silks.

JE run round with friends for D: they end up coming in for a bit. I then take E off to deliver G's present (not quite sure what it was, E not sure either, but M now says it was "zoobs"). BGS are off with their grandma but CA let us in to see G's newly pink-painted room. Its a bit vibrant. E, at least, doesn't strongly press for one like it. When I get back D is off to JEs house, which is OK by me.

Its developed into a calm warm mellow late-pm. Gold sunlight, green world. Our garden is very tree-ish at the moment, in fact perhaps too tree-ish, we must consider some drastic pruning of the willows at least (or bending them into the tunnel they were supposed to become).

When I next look, D is playing football (!) on S'dale green with JE, their two friends, C/Dak and Bram. Bram is losing. On the sidelines, young Martha and Anna are playing with leaves. All rather idyllic, so I watch and appreciate. Brams losses get too severe: I am called onto their team. But when the match ends (CDak need to leave at 6) we're still losing. D was goalie in the winning team. Home; dinner: M heats the pizza while I tidy outside.

Soir: online. Start on the NH article.

2005/05/31. Tuesday.

Lots of building work - see blog. Much consultation and progress.

M to work, E to M'a (latish) and I at home with D.

Head off to smoko before realising... its a priv day! Oops. There will be no-one there. Ahem. So... since we're still in the village, divert to N's to pick up the Pink Panther video which D has wheedled for the trip. Coffee at home instead. D is still reading HP intensively. We do the grauniad sudoku, which is an easy today, or rather I help D. with most filled I leave him but! There is some error. Take it onto the boat to fix. From 2 to 3:30 I pack and D plays with JE and two of their friends: Rebecca and another. All v well behaved upstairs, except I am afraid to say for D who is showing away somewhat, at least when I'm around. So I go back to packing.

4:10: M arrives, we finish stowing, a few minor Q's to Andrew, and we're off. So suddenly that I forget to check properly if the car is parked OK and, oh, something else. Anyway, we're off, chug chug quietly up the river. Sun. No eights. Andrew says that means the bumps may be starting tomorrow in which case we'll be coming back through them, ha ha. But the river continues quiet. Fairly soon DE disappear down to PP (M works out how to turn it and the generator on) and I get to do most of the steering which is fine. M brings me coffee and tortillas. Baits bite lock and everyone is turned onto deck. I stuff up the approach to the stage (its quite windy) and have to turn and return. Otherwise OK. D helps with the lock controls (I realise after that it says no-u16, ahem) and we agree that one that you can push by hand like at Ma's is more fun.

Dinner (pasta) at the stage just downstream of the Waterbeach lock. Then continue onwards, a bit faster now.

See a ?barn owl? hunting over a strip of coarse field. Clearly an owl, probably barn, the large face clearly visible. Slowly hunts down, then back up again, then down. Only disappears when I get the camera out!

Past 8: stop at the Fodder Fen goba mooring. The a1123 is just a bit further up, but its quiet now, and there is a beautiful view of the sunset which is fiery/bloody. Good photos, except for the phone wires in the way, and photoshop will solve that... There is one other boat here, Bluebell, and she is quiet.

Kids late to settle, of course. I sit out with a coffee and Weart. It is quiet, bar the occaisional car, and not a sniffle from Bluebell.

Diary April 2005

 WMC's diary pages, 2005.

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2005/04/01. Friday. Sunny/hazy.

Today dawns the great day of the balloon flight. Initially a bit grey but with the promise of clearing, we hope. I leave M in charge of infants and head to work.

M phones before 12: its on. So I can stay at work a bit more. But: ITS take unix down around noon for lunch so I might as well go home, and I do.

Arrangement is to take DE to Sams for 4. In the meantime, I find D "playing" with Billy and others on the green. Sadly what is happening is that they are playing football but D dares not join in, for fear that he would spoil their game; even when Charlie says "of course you wouldn't" D is not encouraged and nothing I can do will move him. So he stays, miserable, on the side.

Start off with a quiet sit with coffee and lunch, as it gets sunnier; move on to more tidying/clearing of the sheds. Put up a shelf in the garden shed and move various pots of paint and boxes of misc plant pots onto it. We have rather a large number of plant pots that "might be useful one day".

Last minute panic as we realise we have no idea where the flight vouchers are. Fortunately they are where they should be: on the cork board. Off: dispose of DE; to Longstanton golf course in time, though about the last. Flight attendant girl takes our vouchers; who is the pilot? It becomes clear: tall large beefy chap is the manhandler; pilot is the small dapper chap; another chap is an assistant/training pilot who defers to Kenneth K, who turns out to be the chief pilot. M helps with the inflation, which I stand back to take pics: the basket is tipped over and shackled to the van; the balloon package (about a 4-5 foot cube) is unravelled and attached; two big fans are started to inflate the balloon while M and others hold up the canopy. After its somewhat full (and billowing around in the slight wind) the burners start up... I had wondered if they were going, quietly, before, because it seemed to be inflating quite well; but once they are on there is no doubt they weren't before, because they are very loud and bright with huge flames. Pretty soon its up and (following our previous instruction) we get on one-by-one and fairly quickly before it floats away... I am in the compartment touching M. The basket is bigger than my naive expectations: it could take 16. There are 4 passenger sections dividing the interior to the height of the basket walls, which are about 4 foot high, and a pilots/gas section in the middle. Instruments are a garmin GPS and an o/s map! We are instructed in the launch/landing posture (sit on the low seats; brace) and we're off... no we're not. More gas: now we're gently up and drifting... straight towards a hummock of earth. Just like all pilots (if BAS's are anything to go by) we shave the top with little to spare before heading up up into the sky! All slow and quiet, except when the burners are on, which isn't often. We are drifting NNE perhaps, a slight shame because its away from Cambrdige and away from Dry Drayton so DE won't see us. Also no mobile use in the air.

2005/04/02. Saturday.

Lie in late, though M is obliged to get up early-ish (around 8) by E.

Sit in sun outside for b'fast doing (finally) diff Sudoku.

J gardens: digging stones laid years ago out of patch at front. D helps.

4: run, std course, past crossroads to next village sign. Not fast, but not too tired either.

As it turns out, we all stay in or around the garden all day.

Soir: fiendish SD M found. She suceeds; I need a little help from her, since I made one mistake :-(

2005/04/03. Sunday. Grey then fine.

Up 10; DE seem quite happy, well, mostly, though there is some odd fighting going on in the bath and J has to intervene.

11:30: Out, with MfdDE to Didcot, both of the infants keen, Mfd unclear: he says he is only mildly interested but I think there is more than that...

Have a good day out: lots of trains to see, two steaming (3822 and a tank), etc etc as usual.

Back past 4: M still tinkling. Later she confesses that she has (gasp) actaully been playing for pleasure a bit too.

Leave past 5; back 7:30 say after an easy drive.

Soir: sweep loft then oil boards, in prep for putting stuff up there tomorrow.

Wiki: sane.

Look through photos: upload Hinderton Hall.

M plays.

2005/04/04. Monday.

Spend all day (apart from going in for smoko; and lunch; and tea; and wiki) cleaning out the bike shed and my workroom.

2005/04/05. Tuesday.

Builders arrive prompt at 8.

Interviews at work: face to face and by phone. With presentations.

Start building blog: http://blog-the-builder.blogspot.com/. If you are wondering why there isn't more about our building work here, its because its there.

2005/04/06. Wednesday. Rain then sun; windy.

To work late. Misc; more R-C model with Tom going (I think) nowhere and grey-atmos stuff is interesting too, trying to get a stratosphere to cool.

End 12 when bslcenc is taken down (and, talking to BJL, probably not for any useful reason). Spare time so to town: Heffers for lunch. Read Horticern, which is opaque but apparently not useful. Go to get money out and discover that Gnatwest branch is closing. Oops. Use Barclays instead. Oxfam. Home: now its sunny and pleasant but cool. Building stuff: see blog. Talk to Ian.

Drive to Camborn to put in 5 papers: all OK, after 25 min wait. Good. Onwards to Ma's (stopping for 10 min walk along the canal near J+J: lovely) and arrive 5:15. But Mfd+J are stuck in traffic so don't arrive till well past 6, so I could have had a longer walk. Discuss building and options with Ma while we wait and less with Mfd/J. DE pleased to see me, D bouncy, perhaps too much so. 1/2 hou swap over then we head home, disk 3 of hobbit starting at Beorn. E just about stays awake and its 8:20 before we're back. Tired. But not finished yet.

Briefly discuss M's talk with Ian to check nothing urgent (err...). M puts E to bed; D is reading a new lego mag. Simon arrives 9:30 to take a beehive so I'm down to 3 (one of which I suspect is weak; I give him New I think). Then we do some electoral stuff in case he is away.

2005/04/07. Thursday.

Take elec stuff to Cambourn, back 10. Thence in to work, leaving M with D - E is at M'a. Back 12:30, roof is now off outhouse. Pm with D: offered him option of going to town, but he prefers to stay in with friends. I do some digging, D's bed. M gets E. The rest of the day seems somewhat blank...

2005/04/08. Friday. Cold. Rain, hail, then sun.

Stay in with kids while M off to work: she will return 12:30 ish. Take E to M'a. Its windy! And cold too. E puts her gloves on, or rather I do. She is wearing her "new" pink dress, very fetching - one I bought from Sally Army sometime - poss indended as a cmas pres. Anyway she likes it.

Back: D at pooter. Just about to phone Andy when he phones me: could B come and get D to play: yes indeed, except I'll bring D over. Good: so I escort D to BW turning, then head off to work, arriving 5 mins late for smoko. Rather quiet today: just 4 (me; jds; aj; georgina)of us: Tom off with his kids; HKR CRED'ing. End up doing some work, reading through some journals, and a bit of wiki too, and don't leave till 2:30. Must remember to put monday into my leave form.

Home: builders out, but as a bonus we have B,C and Dak in. M took DB to lunch at the orchard. So: settle to my lunch. Whew. Read economist: article on Blair and GW: essentially, much talk and little action. But stoat this.

M gets E 3:30, err, and is brought back by M'a, because I forgot that I had arranged with M'a that she would do this. Oops. Anyway she gets to look at our wreckage. The DCBDak ensembalge has an odd dynamic. Dak is driving the pooter. C is playing with lego, but nearby. D is offering driving advice. B is watching. Later DBC rush around and upstairs, while Dak tends to stay at the pooter, being a bit older. But eventually he too is tempted upstairs. I throw them out of the living room several times.

Send CBDak home a bit before 6; cook pasta and pizza. M reads E's story and I take her upstairs and read another: Skarloey, the not very interesting engine :-)

Soir: misc web stuff. Work filesys are v slow, which is tedious. Put up the SCGP site at new address. Add elec stuff. Add elec to egp. Simon brings nom papers over. And wiki: the GHE wars again. But Kowloonese is being reasonable, or at least talkative.

2005/04/09. Saturday. Still cold, but sunny.

Small noises in the morning, but we stay in bed till 9, soaking in the sunshine. I break first. Leave for town about 10:30, deliberately avoiding the various things to do. Arj for soy sauce and stuff, the cb1 for peace and quiet. End up doing a mild sudoku and finding it harder than it should have been. Quick browse round W/s then ox then back. Stop to chat with Nick re rotavator and talk about his new polystyrene beehive, of which he is proud. Could this be the future?

Home: MED are back from town, E proudly displays her new socks and hair ties. D has a new lunchbox, and a new drink container. This latter provokes a crisis, by mistake. I say "but D, why have you got a new drink container, when I bought you a nice blue one for c'mas?". To which D replies "Now I've totally stopped believing in father christmas, because *he* got me that one!". Oops, I don't keep track of stuff like that, and didn't think he did either. We try to finesse/obfusticate, but cannot of course bring ourselves to actually say yes he does exist (lie) or no he doesn't (less sure why not; perhaps because E is listening). The issues dies down.

Quick bite to eat then take DE out swimming: pick up Andy, BG: to Impington. But will it be open asks A? Ah... a moment of doubt, but fortunately it is. And (apart from infants taking forever to get changed; and the dodgy showers) all goes well. G is happy floating around, rather than clinging; and E is mcuh more aquatic than usual. D learns some diving and even somersaults. We stay in quite a long time: A leaves first. After, to pub, for a swift pint. After, A offers to host DE, so I accept, and head home, change, and go off to rotavate the allotment. This turns over quite a bit quite quickly but perhaps not terribly thoroughly: still it looks good. Tomorrow some planting. Only when I stop do I realise that my arms are v tired: holding down the clutch seems to be the hardest part. Home 6:30: E back, not D: A has kept him for tea, and to watch Dr Who! Well well. M cooks eggs for us and pasta for E (Simon brought some of his over). Now its E's bedtime but she just won't behave well, and ends up being forced up by M. I read Green Jade Stories to D, then he goes up, a bit early as he has been fined time.

Log on; mail; wiki: I have a 24h 3RR ban. How annoying. But, also, rather liberating, as I've free to compose my rant against Pielke. And so I do. Now its just past 11: M made herself a hot choc and headed for bed a while ago, so what is that noise of piano playing I hear...? I'm off.

2005/04/11. Lovely spring day.

I get up around 9, not because I have to but because its nice. B'fast with DE, E manages to spill hers, argh. Dak and C come round, and invite D to C's birthday lunch (it would seem that the poor child only gets a lunch not a full party and only 2 firends round :-(). Happily, D *doesn't* want to go to see Robots with Billy (he was very emphatic about this over the phone to A, less so at the pool, but didn't succumb), so he can go. Later, E gets invited too. They all play fairly happily and quietly; later I throw them outside.

I sit out with Proust and a coffee. When M gets up I decide to go to Orchard: we need some compost. E elects to come, D not. We get 2 bags, and some seeds. Then start some gardening: there are plants to plant (that should have been done some time ago...). Pot up about 20 sweetcorn, and 2 trays: one of foxgloves (E's choice), and some Pennyroyal and Pasque flower that we bought last time. Somehow I crowd these into the shed.

Stopped to talk to Ian on the way back: BTB has come back with a bald +£3.8k for the moving-out option, but no detail: Ian needs to talk it through with him.

Somewhere around here DE disappear off to the party by bike, E therefore very slowly, but DC are looking out for her. D has drawn a card and has a jar of honey to take as a present, in lieu of a real one, since its late.

Then dig over D's bed and put compost on ready for the planting he wants to do, which is to be carrots and peas. And so it is, done rather quickly just before I take him to N. Also we plant a nice white star-daisy plant thing in the flower bed, which looks like a real flower bed at the moment, good grief.

So, DE back 3 ish, or perhaps later, and due at N's 4-5 ish. D poots; E misc on her bike and I sit in the sun for a bit, then get up and examine nnew hive: as I feared, it is an ex-hive, poor dears. Well they were rather weak, I didn't really expect them to survive the winter.

N phones! Where are you D? So off we go, 4:30, taking the tent in case they want it. Drop them off (EP follow me to play on the rec) and fix the last (I think) bit of PC stuff from the rospa report: putting a stopper into the skateboard ramp. 3 interested ?18? year old mountain bikers wonder what I'm up to so I tell them. EP then come into the garden and all are tramplining. Leave them to that, and Nick to mowing, and go off to plant pots onto the allot. Get in 3 rows, about 20 in all, where I rotavated. Well, lets hope they turn out well. More diggin required. Fin 6. Kids still trampolining: collect E; bye to N, who reminds me that she is coming round for a hive tonight. OK. Take E back. She tells me that they were playin a game and all had names. She was "jumpy grass frog" and indeed she is green with grass cuttings. The others had names too...

M is just cooking: eggs for me, fish for her and E. E objects to this and wants pasta, and sends herself up to her bedroom. When she comes down she is reasonable and eats with M. I bath. Its still lovely outside. Potter, tidying a little.

M beds E. I check mail and wiki: I'm still banned. Odd, I wonder why. Vsmith is doing good work though. And though a bit frustrating it is in some ways a relaxation. Work up a stoat: on TB and post. N comes 1/2 way through and we do the bees, a bit harder this time as the entrance is harder to tape up and I end up with a sting, but a mild one. Wheel-barrow is easier than carrying but more likely to bump. So, now I am a 1-hive beekeeper again. But I'm assuming I'll get some swarms.

Soir: M bath, misc for me. Mfd/J are off to Paris in a few days.

2005/04/11. Monday. Sunny.

Another rather mixed day. M heads off for work early (ish...) and I take E to M'a. Then I had into work, since D is still with N (stop by to check all is well: it is). Rather quick work till after smoko then head back. Its lovely and sunny, so (with DN and P out in the garden bouncing and playing games on the trampoline) I sit and drink tea and read Private Eye for an hour or so, while N works inside. 12:45: about time to go; N invites us for lunch so we stay for that, just bread and cheese. Then time to go home: we offer to take N, but she is off to Adams.

Head home: wonder if I should stop by Ian to see whats up but his car isn't there so assume he isn't either. Message from Ian on answerphone: he has new info: so I phone: he *is* in: car is not infallible. He will come over, and does. D is pooting, so Ian and I get to talk, mostly about the costs, which have diminished to less than +£3k. So... probably OK. M comes back, a bit early: she thinks so too. OK, good. Go out to discuss soakaways; Ian takes down a "lintel" for us that was looking wobbly.

Then head in to work, returning to get Phils chainsaw. Work misc, this is going to be a broken day.

Home before 7: MED out at w'rose but soon back.

Soir: misc; useful wiki stuff since revert wars temporarily quiet. M to bed before 10, ie early. School tomorrow for D.

10:45: vomit-inducing Labour ad on the radio, trying to persuade us that Blur and Broon are friends.

2005/04/12. Tuesday. My birthday! Hurrah!

B'fast in bed: noises off, then DEM come in with a tray and presents: I have ordered toast and coffee and orange juice. They come in new tiny cups bought for the occaision. D cadges some of my toast. I get up and finish coffee downstairs: the cups are small so it takes a lot to finsih the pot. M has given me a book of Sudoku, ha ha. D has drawn me a rather nice pic of an owl; E has made me a rolled up paper thing that I shall nonetheless treasure. Also I have a watering can and gloves from Ma, and some ginger etc.

But as well as my b'day its the first day of sch: send D off and take E to M'a; catch up with D and take him across and into sch in good time.

Work: misc.

3:30: DE from sch, though we hang around till 4 just playing. N won't let N come over on some specious excuse about arms hurting, so N is sad but on my advice doesn't whinge, so she is learning. At home, there is an exciting hole, and Sam comes over to play clay games with D and make a mess. I cook; M is back a bit late; I grab my PC papers and prepare a minor spiel as gov.

Soir: to PC at 7. This is a PC, then an annual parish meeting, the ditto for the rec. This can be tedious so I have taken the precaution of copying out a diff and a fiendish to occupy me. The diff goes fairly easily and the F not much harder, so either I'm getting better or these were easy examples. Fin 9:15 ish. Both JR and Robin P are there and both put in strong speeches for the obvious electioneering reasons. RP speaks well, especially for the I'm-a-bluff-indep and dilution-of-democracy side, but lacks depth. JR does his best to bash the govt without being too obviously party-pol. He won't be our cllr: ward splits: and he is given some genuine warmth from the PC, who he has done a decent job for.

2005/04/13. Wednesday. Fine.

Quiet in bed, wondering if the builders will turn up, its not quite clear if they have stuff to continue with. But, they (or rather Mr Digger) does indeed arrive, at 8:15, and gets started. D is somewhere watching.

So: back to std wednesdays: D to sch; back home with E. Misc; unload dryer; wiki a bit (argh; the return of JG). Then off to smoko (stopping briefly at sch to give wild garden key copy to Mrs S; D begs me not to go so I watch him and N having a race; then another when the result of the first is disputed; sadly N wins by a few feet. Then we're off to work: coffee and biscuits; then town. First stop German cafe; I have borrowed M's bike but forgotten her bike lock key. Oops. Still it doesn't get nicked. Good early lunch for us - E as usual has a chevre sandwich and I remove the "yucky bits" - ie olives and tomatoes. Then library, then arj/cb1. Rob is puzzling over a "Diff"; his waitress has done it but had all morning; I get interested and to my pleasure do it in about 20 mins and find it easy. Meanwhile E is learning her letters: I draw out A-Z and she traces over (holding her pen badly but won't be helped) and can then name about 2/3 of them.

E on the bike back from town: "you know when we are in the pool, and I sit on the side, and I don't want to go in the water, because if I go in the water I'll get water in my mouth, unless I close my mouth, and if I do that I can't talk and I like to talk and...". She is a chatterbox, but a cute one.

Drop E with M at sch; D has an appointment with Matthew (of Mrs Robinson) that we had both forgotten but fortunately she hasn't. I leave M the bike and drive off to Cambourne to hand in Simons noms; hassle hassle! It all works out in the end but they take a lot of convincing that the agent can do it (it didn't occur to me that I couldn't; but the big 4" thick rule book (Parkers?) confirms it in the end. Whew! Drive back with should-I-stay-or-should-I-go blasting at full volume. Yah! Thats my last responsibility there for a while.

Home. D still away of course. Put on boots and go dig outside D's classroom - bed is a mess; we can put in pots or herbs.

M goes to get D with E at 6 ish. Compute.

M cooks pasta, and in the middle E runs in; floods of tears; she has hurt her finger cos D dropped a slab on it cos she put her finger under without telling him cos... well anyway she is very sad for a long time but eventually quietens and we have dinner: D has eaten already.

Soir: both at r100's all evening.

From http://www.manbottle.com/humor/How_to_know_whether_or_not_you_are_ready_to_have_children....htm, we find:

GROCERY STORE TEST

Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything that they eat or damage.

Not so much for me but for M, who does the shopping, mostly.

2005/04/14. Thursday. Not warm, but sunny.

Builders around: D watches from the top of the shorn pine; DE to sch; work misc; yoga: first for a long while. Feeling that I've been too busy recently, head to town: rest in Heffers and read more of Cheerful Ladies by AMcS: not demanding. Get new front door keys cut; ox. Back, stopping at allot to dig for 3/4h: by rhubarb mostly. Then... well... just past 5 so they are open: cider at the pub. Sit outside while I'm warm then inside. Good progress on an F but not enough time. Get D from homeclub, and send him off, then E from M'a. E proudly shows off her finger which has no bandage, but has been wiped with vaseline.

Home; E wants break-and-marmite so oblige. M comes back and cooks: eggs. After, I go up for bath, being a bit sweaty; come down in time to bed E. Then wiki: manage to get self another 3RR ban: oops. But perhaps as well: I've been at pooter most of evening anyway (wot with egp stuff, AJs poster, blog-t-b, gmail, etc). M is playing, time for me to stop this.

2005/04/15. Friday. A bit rainy.

Builders back, just before 8; wall today, if the rain holds off for them.

Lunch with Tom, DGV then Howard; back to office; misc, and end up at school at 2, as I'd said I might, to help with clearing the scum from the pond. Mrs S introduces me (Daniels Daddy) and says she will choose 4 people: D gets chosen cos its me; and 3 others, either for good work, or for listening well (Wm Macauley; Charlie C; Bethan). I have the key and the nets: off we go. There is a float of scum/weed on the sfc; really we need a much longer net to reach the center but we have fun, scooping off what we can and then pond-dipping once that is done. Charlie (I think) decides to try to cross the earth at the far side of the pond: a mistake: he sinks ankle deep in the mud but of course this is fun for all, not a source of annoyance. They are remarkably interested in even small things: a beetle; a pondskater. And then we find a newt: hurrah! 2 others creep in; then its break; I send some away and more replace them, through the break. After break, stop for a bit, go back in to report to Mrs S. All is well, so acquire another 4, and she will send out more in 5 mins, and I think most of the class get a go, and most get to catch something, though some are disappointed not too. Send them back, clean nets, and go off to get E: see builders heading off.

DE then go off with N; I retire home and spend most of a'noon with coffee and City of Bones my new book, which is proving better than I hoped.

M back 6 ish just after I've got up to start washing up and tidying; we have a slight disagreement after she just sits down to play the piano when I thought she might help. Ah well. I get DE at 6:30; all was well, good: home.

D is scratching his head rather a lot and doesn't complain when I offer to nit-comb him. Find at least 5 big ones. Oh-err. Don't find any on me on a quick comb, or on E. Hmm.

Soir: misc: light wiki, blog-t-b of course.

2005/04/16. Saturday. Fine.

Slowly up - finish city of bones, which was unexpectedly good to the end. M is making a shopping list; D has run upstairs to dress cos C+Dak turned up. Wander down to shed to water seedlings, then leave for town, deciding to b'fast there. Go on my bike which means I remember the lock. Heffers: large coffee and a p-aux-c and finish "in the company of cheerful ladies". Time to go: take M's dry cleaning to Penguin, then to cb1. Settle down to do a mild, which proves a touch on the tough side, as I rather carelessly copy it across to let someone else do the full puzzle, and leave self little space. I concentrate: someone sits at my table: I don't notice who. Look up later: its Richard. Ah, hello. Intro him to the puzzle; he grasps it quickly. I finish mine, except for an awkward bit near the end where I made a mistake and had to swap numbers. Compare with his, unfinished. Realise that the number I swapped was a given one, so I've solved a different puzzle. Oops.

Home, 1:30, following MED in the car back from w'rose. The "olde" w'rose back says Waite, Rose and Taylor, so now I know where the name comes from, but don't know where Mr Taylor went to. Lunch. Decide it would be nice to stay home - and Andy is away - so don't mention swimming and let C+Dak drag DE outside. E finally remembers at about 5 but thats far too late... and she doesn't mind. With E, plant some sunflower seeds and she is keen to use her new watering can to water them. Also a tray of peas. Meanwhile DCDak play around, sawing things in a vaguely controlled fashion: D has a worrying tendency to call my shed "the workroom". Move the swing-seat to the other side of the apple in a belated attempt to preserve the bluebells: not that the various junk on the field side has been cut down there is room there. Beyond the shed, level off the ground where the two hives were and laid down 4 slabs from the patio, to form a possibly weed-proof hive stand, and reassemble the hive there. I need some more brood frames but seem to lack foundation. Oops.

Anyway, children are heading inside, now its past 4. I have promised D to make bread so we do: or at least the enliven yeast the mix then leave to rise, then! I drag them all off to the alloment: to my surprise, no groans of complaint. Dak phones home (his mobile) to check: yes, OK (since they roam everywhere I was surprised he checked). C lacks his bike so must run; I cycle slowly in sympathy: D Dak don't. At the church I ask D to swap with C; at the corner I let D ride on my pedals, and he can pedal the bike. At the allots they run on ahead and I labour behind: after a bit of play I send them off to amuse themselves at N's, cahrging D strictly to look after E along the way, then settle to digging up last years carrots gone split (such a waste!) at the front where I wish to put cabbages. As I expect, the digging is easyish. In an hour tis done, C Dak are seend heading off (home by 6) and N comes to see whats up: a sweet child. She has been off at someones party and only just got back: so I suppose D etc have been amusing themselves with P and Nelson. Talk with N, who is rather unkeen to let me have some spare brood frames, even though she owes me them, on the rather spurious grounds that hers are nice and new. Humpf. Nicholas is out back raking over his old veg plot, no longer needed, that he intends to grass he says. E is in a "car"; D on tramp. Take them both home...

C Dak are hanging about in hopes of a bonfire: send them away till 7:20; dinner. Put bread into tins to rise again. I phoned ahead so food is waiting: pizza for us and fish for them. E nearly has a screaming fit for pasta but then decides she rather wants some fish and is obliged, reluctantly, to give up the fit. She is tired.

After dinner head down for bonfire; D finds CDak. Have it in the "new" location at the back of the field in the middle; get a good blaze going and we have fun and get rid of some junk and clear most of the old location. M brings E out to see and say goodnight. The kids find bits of wood and are v keen to "carry" the fire to a new location over behing G+E; eventually I take pity on them and help; and soon we have a good balze going on some old stuff; Ella comes out, and later G, as it blazes up, then dies down: 8:20: enough: in we go, bye to C+Dak.

Put bread on to cook (oops, left rather late, the 3 "rolls" have merged in to one: this isn't going to be a good effort), D up to pygama, settle to washing up and (for some reason doing it now) to clearing the old honey-gunk mixture from the oven and sorting it out, while M reads D story. Off he goes, and I go for a bath with M. Proust, who waxes a bit too lyrical about hawthorns for my taste.

Later: IP down so peace; do a F and write this and friday up. M does her preschool accounts, once I've chased her off sudoku and patience.

2005/04/17. Sunday. Lovely and sunny. Rain after dark.

Up rather late - about 9 - because the kids become importunate, D even sets the buzzer to time my "five more minutes...". Hmmm. Anyway, its sunny, so sit outside with a coffee and breakfast and sudoku while D plays with a misc group and E is cycling happily around. D has already discovered that the net is still down, so he can't play lego site, and I can't waste this lovely morning on wiki. Plant some asparagus out (the ones I got from Gordon at the fete last year, the overwintered with little attention in their pots) with E's help.

Later: C, Taylor and Connor are going to the Orchard (why?) so DE want to go to, and there seems no reason not too, and a good reason to: to get B and Vivien their birthday presents for next week. D counts up his money with M: he has £18+. Others run on ahead; D cycles and E and I cycle together. By the school, we pass a very puffed C and Taylor coming back, which would appear to imply that they have run there and then straight back, which appears odd. Anyway, Connor is still there when we arrive, somewhat puzzled by where the others have got to... So: leave the kids in the kiddies toys section (yes I know its a mistake, but I want a coffee) and get self a coffee, a bottle of apple for us all, and (indulgence) a bakewell tart and a cream egg. I'm just finishing that when E arrives with what she has chosen for V: a care bears stationary set. Hmm. Its a bit cheap, so we'll have to aplogise for that, but otherwise unobjectionable, quite likely to be liked, and maybe even useful. So it'll do.

E sits with me and we eat tart together. Get her a hot choc. D knows what B wants: spider slammer or somesuch, a hotwheels thing, looks like trash but its what is wanted it seems. D himself is torn between a huge water pistol (or rather water rifle), and a ninja turtles pencil/pen/crayon box, rather like E's maisy one but less cute. I dissuade him, and he settles on: some haribo sweets, a whoopee cushion, and something else. Total £4+. OK. Then they play outside for a bit, I buy a bit more food and an apple juice bottle for them to take out; home.

"Do" hive: poke through the top 3 supers: activity, little honey. Swap one super with some honey onto empty hive, with thought of encouraging them to visit and swarm there.

So... sit out a bit more. 2:30 and its time to head off for tennis (anyone for Stennis?) so throw out his friends and off. Stop off to pick up N and we cycle off, N noticeably faster than D, probably because of a bigger bike with gears and more practice. Its lovely and sunny and I notice the hawthorns along the way cos Proust has been rabbiting on about them endlessly. Anyway mine are blackthorns.

Tennis "open day" thing is indeed on (I always wonder just before we get to such if I've got the wrong day), the odd flag/balloon, and lots of people, lots of kids. Mrs Robinson is there with Matthew so thats a good start. Find out the score, get rackets, into the court, then realise that the session start every now and again, so play amongst ourselves to start. E is by no means the youngest here. A session starts: I leave them to it and go get some tea, only to be pulled back cos E is sad cos I've gone. But she only wants to know where I am: once satisfied, she is happy. So I settle down with tea to watch them practice. Lots of things that i wouldn't have thought of: starting with holding ball on the raquet (see, I can spell), then rolling it round, then in pairs hitting the ball along the floor to each other, builing up confidence I suppose. Then finally trying to hit a thrown ball, which E is comically bad at (failing to even move until the ball is past her) but this doesn't worry her one jot. So when that session ends she is keen to do another, whereas D and N have had their egos bruised a little by not hitting the ball well (I think) and aren't keen to try more. Hey ho. Let them run around, sit a bit, then follow E to her session and watch her being cute again: she is just so happy in what she is doing, skipping like a little lamb. Talk with Alices dad, whose name I've forgotten, about NZ, where he lives.

Fin about 5, a fine haze is oncoming, and its a bit chilly, though you wouldn't guess that from E, who has a teashirt on and is lifting that up to show her belly. Cycle back; stop at N's. N rather grudgingly gives me 3 made up brood frames (grudging because they are new; though 2 are slight seconds), which seems off to me cos I've just given her a hive and she owes me a whole hive structure (minus bees) back. Drag DE off the trampoline and home. M has cooked spanish omlette (I prewarned her) and this is nice. A proper dinner for once! Kids baths; I crack and use the phone line for the net. Promising progress on the RFA.

Put 3 new frames into hive 2, now complete and awaiting a swarm. Find old baby swing, the front-handlebar child seat, and the buggy board in the shed, and bring them back to wash to give to the sale next week.

Bath: finish du-cote-de-chez-swann, though in English, of course. The end came rather suddenly.

D plays jenga with M,

Soir: M doing her preschool stuff.

On the CD: british sea power.

2005/04/18. Monday.

Work: mostly to hack the poster into order, or at least get it started, which proves easier and yet more frustrating than expected. I suppose a proper page layout prog would be better, as would adding the background bitmap *after* all else rather than before. And I bet its some huge stupid BMP not a sensible JPG.

Soir: PC (planning) then PP (new sec, Stuart-as-in-Fizz; questionnaires now printed: I have Sadlers + Brookfield to do.

2005/04/19. Tuesday.

E to M'a; D sch; then slowly towards town cos we have an access grid meeting at 10 so I am in no hurry and the weather is pleasant. Manage to get into the new bits via the back way, err, and over a precipice, and have time to get a coffee before AJ/JCK arrive. Meeting goes flawlessly - no connection or sound problems. And its useful too.

After, to Heffers for lunch, then back to work: talk to TLC re poster text and try to find his figures.

After, to school. The new thing today is the tennis lessons. N talk NP back to her house, I chivvy DB along and have E on the back. We pick up NP at their house, and DNB head off into the distance while I cycle along after P, who squeaks along on his small bike in a most determined way for someone who isn't 5 yet (I think). Nonetheless he is slow and we only just get there by 4. So: push them in the right direction and hope for the best; they end up assigned to various classes, DB together. Honor is there but not in: she is not keen because... she doesn't know folk. Thea is playing though. Later H's friend turns up and H is suddenly OK. E is keen to do something, fair enough, but seems to have accepted that she is too small to be in a class. So we play together for a bit, then I leave her to watch the others. They don't obviously shine, I'm sorry to say, but nor do they disgrace themselves. DB would do better if they concentrated on what they should be doing rather than showing off and playing around. More playing with E and talking to Heather and other mums around - of course it is mums almost all.

After 1/2 h N comes out v nearly in tears. Eventually (with Heathers help) it seems that she can't cope with being in a small kids group: probably a consequence of us arriving a fraction late. So I ask if she can go in with DB; this is OK; then she is fine. Whew.

Fin 4:45. They run around a bit and we have choc bix and drink prepared by N. By miscounting, P doesn't get a bix, oops, his lip wobbles but he stays OK: well done P: I promise him one when he gets home. Off we go: DNB on ahead, stopping at the woods at the dogleg to play. When EP and I get there we stop too, and EP somewhat diffidently go in, while I walk off to view the world. Its hazed a bit and colder. Bram comes past and stops; we talk about the tennis sessions. Its getting on, so I hustle them out of the woods: they would stay longer if they could (in the obvious groups: DNB; and EP). On a bit, and P finally gets tired: so sit him just in front of E, and carry his bike. On. In the distance is... Nikola, who has got worried we were late (she wasn't sure P would make it; she has forgotten I have my mobile). So P swaps to her. Chez N, they head off to trampoline and N makes me tea. Another 20 mins or so, and now its 6, we really must get back. Drop B off at start of BW and finally home.

Soir: more poster hacking; mail what may be a complete version to various; BAS email system is crawling.

Leave M downstairs on sudoku when I go to bed: she comes up v late.

2005/04/20. Wednesday.

Oh dear, its been busy. Its now 23:15 on wednesday and I've got since monday to write up...

Today was a nearly typical wednesday. D sch (plus drop bag of clothes at community room for sale); E and I back home; find lib books, E's swimsuit (hidden), plus various (old swing seat; buggy board; front bike seat; bag of toys) for sale. Off to smoko, then Germ, then pool, then arj/cb1. At this point we've run out of time so no time for library...

Head back, stopping at the sale, as E is v keen to: get E a new pink skirt and an orange top; also a little bag, and a kangaroo (better than a teletubby). There is lots more decent stuff there, but not enough buyers. Sch: swap E with M; head home, a few drops of rain. This afternoons plan was the allotment, but... stay in and wiki a bit. MED come back, with Matthew. Rain is now clearly holding off, so allot: rotavate and plant more pots. Lots of weed roots in the soil but I'll just have to weed later: no time now. Manage to lose the split pin for one of the wheels, but not the wheel itself, and some loose wire does instead. Home, tired, 6:45. Matthew is collected; apparently all went well. I've missed dinner but some spare is out; somehow I end up doing this-and-that, and eat after 9, and I'm still doing this-and-that: a rather busy wiki night. Sigh. Meanwhile, M is still bust with spreadsheet formula trying to do clever things.

2005/04/21. Thursday. Sun.

Fin work and decide to come home to see how the building is getting on: the two carpenters are busy routing grooves into the rafters, which is noisy, so I sit inside. Do they mind being watched? I don't know: and anyway mostly I don't. They leave 3:30 ish; I decide to go for a walk! Well why not. Over the back and up the field (up, just about) and all is peace and quiet except for the M11. Fewer people than if I was walking on a high lakeland fell... Also, a brief "van gogh" moment as I walk up a path between cornfields, except they were rape fields. Good for the bees. Stop at the "top" and read EWWs GISP document: early indications of D-O events, but not emphasised. And so back.

2005/04/22. Friday. Sun.

Its half ten and M has gone to bed: early for once. I am waiting for a pre-vienna backup to finish so am still here tapping away.

DE watch Pete in the morning, then school, E cycling happily on her tricycle, on which she is now quite fast - walking pace. D is on ahead (later, he chafes at being forced to wait opposite the school to cross, but when pressed he isn't 100% sure he could cross safely. Even later, it turns out that N *is* allowed to cross and he feels this is an injustice, since she is younger. Probably we'll fix this over the next few weeks). D in; E and I stop to read a bit of wind in the willows; then p/school.

To work. Spend day in various tidying ups before vienna/egu, and in printing out the poster. JCK lends me his poster tube, though I worry a bit if it will get onto the plane, ryanair not being noted for kindness. Its Marios farewell smoko, he having got a slightly raw deal out of the post-reduction into Q4. Also GS suggests an RC on a recent DGV science paper, and this gets done in double quick time by DGV. Super!

Home by 2: sunny but a bit windy: sit out and drink coffee and read the economist. Which manages to write a sci article about valuing the env whilst barely mentioing GW. Hey ho.

Sch 3:30. Hustle D into multi sports, and watch while E zooms around the playground on her trike. She is still in the pink skirt and orange top we bought in the sale: she is so happy with them, she sleeps in them. I'm in charge of P too: he is around somewhere. Others sit out in the sun too and watch their kids: I'm next to Helen F. Take EP home about 4, P runs ahead. Home and they want to compute (or P does: I think he rarely gets the chance at home) and E watches with him. Quickly get DN at 4:30 (M back late...) and they all end up having a tea party for all the cuddlies, and it is decided that the party is in honour of Mr Weasels birthday, he and Ermine are the guests of honour. They have made various playdo cups, plates and cakes, Mr W was 5 I guess since there were 5 candles, and D has 5 little red bobbles he puts on top of the toothpicks in the cakes to be the flames on the candles and he "lights" them with a match then helps Mr W to blow them out, as we sing happy birthday to mr w. N arrives soon after dinner - in fact before dinners end, since we're late, so we talk about extensions, we of course extolling the speed of our builders, but possibly we (I) overdo this as it may be slightly sensitive for her. I must stop being silly.

I tidy; M beds E (slowly) while D plays RR I think (he hasn't done much pooting recently). Then M reads D beowulf (the mighty cluster) which he ends up quite liking, then A+O: le domaine des dieux.

Soir: misc computing type stuff, but *not* all evening for once. Put honey I recovered (*finally* clearing the pan in the oven, its been there for months) into jars: 3 more. Thickly runny, and doesn't seem to have suffered in taste from its long heating.

2005/04/23. Saturday. More sun!

Today is the great day of Vivien and Billy's b'day parties. I get up with them at 9 (M gets today in bed in lieu of tomorrow) and misc; then hurry rush hurry to wrap the presents (E helps M...) and write a card (D has conceived the idea of translating B's into french, having lain in bed with M talking about Fr). To rec, for 11, taking DE. Leave D there (B's starts 11:30) and take E to V's (which starts 11). All the little girls are in pink pricess or fairy costumes; Ollie and one other boy are green-faced goblins (I thought they were frogs... it seemed to go with the princesses). E has her best party frock on so is in place, despite being not an explicit princess. And they go into the garden for a pre-party photo before all their finery is disarrayed.

Still before 11:30; Clare is arranging the treasure hunt, B is there; Cory et al are running up; so leave D. Home: M is practising, I decide to sit in the sun at the bottom of the garden with the bees and read the economist. A pleasant interlude: two ?bluetits? display in a tree, chittering. A blackbird. Bees. Ah... coffee finished I water the seedlings (peas coming on; leeks of course; sunflowers, sweetcord and some flowers yet to emerge) then plant the last of Gordon Kinseys asparagus seedlings that I got at last years fete and that have overwintered rather well. As a chairman of the PC I don't care for him (far too abrupt, thought very well up on village matters) but as a gardener he is first class.

Time to get E: all is well, she is delighted with her party bag, she has a "wand" (a pencil, glittery silver, with silver fluff on the end: a perfect wand) and misc otehr stuff. I have arranged to with M to stop at the rec with E and meet her there at the end of B's party to all cycle into town. But. B's party isn't there any more. Err... its back at their house: OK. So go there. I'm a bit early (1:20) but thats fine (actually I turn out to be a lot early: the fin is 2 not 1:30: but that is fine too). E is of course at home; I get some tea nd watch the games: there are 4 signs up (football teams). The kids run to their chosen sign; A blows a whistle and they stop; Clare calls out a team; anyone on that sign is "out"; and they choose again. Lots of running and fun, and a certain amount of cheating by dodging from one sign to another (S) but most are content just to have fun. Then fish-in-the-sea: run around, A calls a number (2; 5; 3; 7) and they have to clump into groups of that #; anyone not clumped is out. That was good. Etc etc. All boys, except for the traditional exception of N. M comes at half past; more tea. Clares mum (I don't know her name! I can't spend all time calling her CM) is helping out. She is a little like mother, but older (I think) and rather more domestic, in that she irons and washes up whenever she is around. We chat about the new house opp st cats; agreeing that it is architectuarally interesting but needs bigger grounds.

Come 2, other parents arrive, and the party unwinds. I remember how it is at this stage: although all has gone well, there has been enough stress keeping everyone happy and busy and suppressing the more vigourous (S) that you are happy to see everyone gone; except perhaps for a few closer (quieter) friends. And so it is this time: D spurns Ms offer of town (M had deliberately designed into the day a quiet time for her to take D to town and shop with him a bit for stuff he wants/needs: new pygamas, a watch, etc), preferring to have C and Dak over; should we take B too? No, lets just all stay here and AC are happy so we do. M heads off townwards anyway; I make myself another tea; the children go to play with the nintendo; misc after-party tidyings take place. I don't help: C has some "technical" probs (I am known to be able to fix things): the video (no help there) and the patio doors, since Stanley has cunningly stuck bits of a tellytubbies puzzle behind them, they won't close. Taking the door off its runners makes space to remove the bits; putting the door back on its runners needs a gentle hammer tap and a number of knives as levers: all is well and my status is enhanced. Now, for the living room shelves... they are having trouble finding a carpenter.

They offer D for tea and watch Dr Who at 7; OK; I leave M there for an hour and follow C to the allotment where some vigorous digging gets another row of pots in: I have a few more that I could put in but doubt I'll have time: switch to keep-it-clean mode from now. Ben is out on his, since they are having trouble finding a house; chat with Sophie. Back (via house, since C wanted some honey), pick up E (a bit sad at not getting to stay, but so used by now to you're-not-old-enough that she says it herself.

M back from her shop 5:30 (poor M: didn't stop for a moment in a cafe...) with new pygamas for D etc, but couldn't find a childrens watch). I bath. D back: Dr Who was fun, clearly not too scary, not terribly well understood (aliens taking over the earth I think).

Soir: wiki (war continues, bitter) pack (lose my flight-conf number, print another (but the piece of paper has useful train times on it...; find them again on the web and save webpage on r100) find it upstairs... etc. Fit all into my std rucksac. Decide against taking poster tube, in case they refuse it as cabin baggage; just roll poster up tightly. Fin just past midnight. Set alarm. What have I forgotten?

2005/04/24. Sunday. Sun.

Wake with a start: its sunny outside. What time is it? Did the alarm fail to go off and the taxi fail to beep? No... its 6:44, 1 min till the alarm. Kiss M, kiss D, leave E asleep and go downstairs. Little b'fast (nervous; always am before trip starts: what if taxi fails to arrive; what if... oh stop it), taxi arrives on time, brief chit chat then quiet quick drive to Stanstead. BAS has pre-payed so just hop out and off: check in quickly (no probs with poster, and they don't even weight my bag), then what? Its now 8:10. So get a quick coffee, croissant and a fresh jouce from one of those delightful machines that crushes a sequence of oranges visbly for you. However, I'm still vaguely and pointlessly nervous about missing my flight, so finish up and head through passports then to the gate. #50 is on "this side" and just for once I don't get the little train thingy. Get out the r100 and see if there is a connection: yes: t-mobile offers me access at £5/hour. But I don't need that now, so tap at this until they call us to Q.

Onboard (and a bit of turbulence, so forgive any misstypes). Its a bit crowded because they have roped off the first and last 8 rows of seats, presumably to save cleaning costs, the b*st*rds: well thats what you get for flying bargain basement. Take off: no sitting around: indeed we had barely cleared the last curve before the engines went full and off we go: can planes do wheelies? Up in clear air; south a cloud deck of the usual beautiful type. In what does its beauty consist? As Proust, who I'm reading, might well ask. And give you about 10 pages with one sentence in answer. Principally in the lack of visible human presence. Partly in unusuallness (I don't fly enough for it to be commonplace). In smoothness and uniformity but broken up on the large and small scales (differing in that from many anthro things). Cloud streets. Over water: but which? I thought it was Holland/France but that is now: so it must have been the Thames estuary. Smokestacks of ?the Ruhr?.

Clouds clear as we approach Salzburg: first views down to a pattern of roads and houses very distinctly not-english (too even spacing of small clumps of houses that are probbaly farms, implying I think that the farms themselves are small and worked by people living on them...); then the mountains! I don't know their names but they are lovely, as ever, snow streaked at the heights. About 5 mins from landing to out-of-airport. On the tarmac I stop to take a picture of the more distant glacier peaks and am hustled along for "safety reasons" of course; the std catch-all for behave-like-everyone-else. Wander out; find trolley-bus line and ticket machine: just as I finish buying one appears: such efficiency, I didn't even phone ahead. And into town: not too quickly, since we keep stop-starting for traffic; but everything around me is of interest. Foreign ciies are, obviously, superior to english ones: but why: probably for differences; because when I go to them its a hol or trip; or perhaps they really are better. Having a view of the mountains at the end of your road is one clear superiority over Cambridge. Trip to hauptbahnhoff is about 30 mins; ticket OK; nearly forget poster till ticket-chap calls me back; 40 mins till 13:10 train, or after that the 13:34, so wander around looking for view of the hills. Circle station and find view: ah... But, not time to get there: rather a shame EGU isn't here instead. So rather than torture myself with the inaccessible, and having checked that the town centre is quite a trip away, I get the 13:10, which is -gasp- late leaving. And doesn't have a wireless network on board. But it is clean and uncrowded with a nice large space at the end for bikes.

Into Wien but 15 mins late; decide to go straight to conf via ubahn. Quick trip, but then a loooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg sloooooooooooooooowwww Q to register (since I have foolishly forgotten to pre-reg). In fact the Q is not so much long as slow (1:30 h about) partly (we suspect: I end up talking to an American Geo called Tim) because of a group of pushing-in Russians at the front. Moral: join the Q far away from the writing-on tables.

After that its 7: walk back some of the way, over the big bridge, and get far enough to realise that the whole walk will be really quite long, but happily its || to the ubahn so hop on. To stephansplatz; the cathedral is as big as ever but blacker than my memory of it. Hotel just nearby OK. Rest. Shower. About 9 head out for food (all alone :-( or :-)?) and find nearly Italian. Should I fail to speak to them in I or in G? Anyway the food is good and I sit outside reading P. Martin W arrives with party at another table; I say hello to him as I leave.

2005/04/25. Monday.

Wake by self in time, which is lucky, cos the alarm I set on my palm was on English time. Reset it. Meet TJ and his wife as I finish b'fast: take my half finished roll with me, which is fortunate as the lunch Qs are unsupportable. Meet Amna in a session and then later at the poster, where I stand in with her for a bit before wandering around. There are hassles with the wireless which get solved with the help of the magic man in the brown jacket who helpfully provides the IP address to set. Mail home. I have realised that the phone I brought out does not have dual band so is useless: so I'm reduced to mailing home.

And so the day passes in session hopping. Write D (err, and E) and email to say what I'm up to.

Fin by walking back some of the way along the Reichsbrucke over the Neu Danube.

Bath; rest. Then out to meet Mike R at 8 for dinner: go to same resto as last night, since it seemed quite good and I have by no means exhausted its menu. Inside, since its now quite rainy. Have a good long chat over dinner: mostly politics: only get on to BAS right at the end.

Back; bit of TV; bit of Civ. Bed.

2005/04/26. Tuesday. Rain then sun then...

Up 7:30, b'fast (with TJ and ?Svetla?), to conf through rain. I have still to wait more than 2 mins for a ubahn, and usually only 1. Most of morning in EPICA session (how nice to be fixed for once) with a brief diversion to hear about Global Dimming (or not) from satellites. Blog all this... Coffee breaks once again coffeeless, but in an innovation they have now made them waterless too. Lunch Qs as ever so wander out (on MRs advice) to backerei Mann by the ubahn where they manage to serve fast and furiously and the queue is short and I even get a seat. So I can write this...

Get a few "customers" for the poster, and AJ stops to say hello. I offer to intro her to TJ but she already knows him. Meet Lars K again and conduct him round the poster.

Dinner with Nicole and various BAS folk: AJ, Liz, and even Yan, err, who half way through dinner points out to me that he has worked for BAS for the past 2 years. How was I to know? A german with an NZ accent in the company on NvL... In a bierkellar type place: an old vault: old stone arches and food to match, ie there was one veggie option, but that was enough.

After, to the Lord Nelson for a bier with Nicole, who is faced with a dilemma over moving to L or not. And we discuss static vs mobile sort of people.

2005/04/27. Wednesday. Fine.

Conf am.

pm: town. Stephansplatz. Dom deep interior is shut for mass, tourists can only go as far as a barrier. Thats new. But, a good idea: its a cathedral and should be. To Kunstmuseum for a long session. Spend ages in the egyptian section taking many many pics of the sarcophogi and stuff, all on 1/4 due to no flash. Cafe upstairs: sachertorte and cafe. And then photo cafe - to do a panorama - since the inside of the museum is as decorated as its contents. They have a Canaletto special so I go to look, though I don't esp care for them: the ripples on an early one are awful. Then Ruebens; then misc. 3+ hours is enough for me!

Out via Heldenplatz, which has a "peace" sort of monument: the two big statues are bricked up, as they were at the end of WWII. Except... looking closer, they are actually plastic-imitation-bricks'ed up, which is cheating. And a big banner on the balcony on which Hitler announced the annexation of Austria saying "to the victims of national socialism". I think.

Then to Hotel Sacher to try *their* sachertorte. They won't let me in the posh bit - I'm not properly dressed - and quite right too. So I go next door to their cafe bit and am served a very nice coffee+torte (the best of the 3 I've tried here).

2005/04/28. Thursday. Fine.

Conf all day really. I'm being good, and its interesting.

Dinner: meet Hadley folk, and Eric and some others, outside Dom at 7:30. We end up about 16, but fortunately break up into groups, I go with TJ, Sv and Ruth. We're all a bit tired and quiet. Sv had been on a tour to a monastery off towards Bratislava, so I mention UKlG and (not by name) Malafrena.

Bed early for once.

2005/04/29. Friday. Fine again!

Weather seems to have settled into the fine pattern. But I'm getting tired: too much conf and too little time off, a problem when there is too much of interest. Still a good problem to have. Looking forward to a rest on the train and plane.

Up (7:10) and in early (8) to set up poster. I can't be here for the official poster display time (3:30) which worries me a bit so I resolve to be here for morning coffee and lunch instead. And indeed it turns out that lots of people won't be here this pm so I get a few good interests this morning instead.

Various talks - see blog - nothing of great interest and I'm really not inspired to be interested. Gavin sits next to me and snorts through a few talks.

Early lunch: walk towards the rive and find a cafe/backerei at the base of a tower: sit inside in sun; read Proust: on Swanns xfer to lower soc and Odettes attempts to rise. M has mailed me: poss probs re building re the party walls not being close enough, may well cause trubble.

Back: posters briefly, meet Nerylls at mine. Email, last. Talks: last: one climate sensitivity (swapping SW radiation modules between models, needs more work). Fin. Walk out into brilliant sun. Its now a bit past 2: ubahn to town, and find that the cathedral deep interior is open, good. So look around. Its full of bl**dy tourists, of course. But we are enjoined to hush and most obey. Some remembered stuff is there: the pulpit. The man beneath. The rows of toads crawling up the pulpit rail (open when I first visited; encased in plastic last time (the go congress?), and rather dusty now. The symbolism seems obvious: how did the priests permit it?

3:30: train out of Wien, ah the old days. Crowded though: sit in end until first stop then crush eases and I get a seat. Switch from P to Sudoku diff, the ones M wrote out for me. A man and his son play Uno, the son delighted when he wins.

Salzburg: now its gently raining. "stadtbus" (ie, electric-overhead) to airport (half hour). Photo of the mountains with cloud behind. Into terminal: it about 7:30 so I'm in time: check-in, then upstairs to resto, since plane is 20 mins late. Have a pizza and fresh orange (another of those nice machines, only I get to run it and watch closely). Play civ while looking out. Few planes. Board, off, maybe 15 mins late.

fail to find taxi back immeadiately; get a bit annoyed with him for not being where he should be but when I do find hime he's a nice bloke and turns out to have a plush jag so OK then. Back a bit before 11. Hello to M; shift bleary-eyed kids out of our bed; bed.

2005/04/30. Saturday. Warm, becomming fine.

Up rather late, being tired. some kind of infant mayhem downstairs with D's friends, D and E annoying one another, D being sent up to his room, well I don't know. M takes them to W'rose; I sit outside with coffee and toast, not really wanting to go to town. Slowly down garden: an awful lot of bees looking at hive 2: have they swarmed in? Inside: washing up: payment for being away for a week.

DEM back 1:50: quick pack swim stuff, phone to invite N, pick her up (poor P looks sad...) and to pool. Where they all have fun; E is "princess snow white", N is "princess cinderella" and D is, apparently, Dominic. They build E a house out of floats. E deigns to ride on my back, as does N. N and D have a swimming race: D wins: N complains he always does: but he only won by about 1 foot over the width of the pool. Diving.

Back to N's at about 4. N is out (I wanted to ask her about a hive back) but Nick is gardening (Nelson is watering the new grass patch, when not spraying more interesting things). Talk for a while re plantings etc; then leave kids and get some more bags of compost from the orchard, mistakenly buying some with peat in, oops. Dump them on allot and come back for kids; N is there (sounding somewhat unwell) and we negotiate which bits of hives I'm allowed back. My (now her) hive seems to be doing well. Follow kids out onto rec; Paul and A and V are there so chat to him while kids play mysterious kids games. Paul has been to Vienna a week before: on Air Nikki or somesuch.

Now its 6: time to go home. D and N ask me to ask N is N can come over for a sleepover. I think I know the answer but ask anyway: answer is no, but next week OK, so we agree next friday. Home, pizza, E and I plant some pansies I bought today (blue, goes with the theme of the bed), M beds her, D is quietly lego-ing (building 3 grades of robot, whose properties he explains to me).

Soir: quiet: small wiki-ing; mail MK; RC commenting on the Ant piece; Civ.