6686/19606
A fun family day of playing games, watching films and a walk up the hill (mainly for my benefit). I managed to get up the hill and back with no real discomfort, though didn't push myself too much. The others played a game of Follow The Leader, which I just invigilated, but it was a delight to see the three of them in a line, doing funny walks, spinning round and then arguing about whose turn it was to be the leader. All three of them are 28 years old. Which is weird given one of them is the other two's mum.
Doubly nice to be outside after this weird year and this bizarre last couple of months (for me) and just heart warming to see the family playing like this. These moments are what life is all about. I just wished I could have whole heartedly joined in with the madness, but it can't be too long now til I feel confident about spinning and jumping and prannying about.
It's been practically a month since I've done a countryside walk (the dog is staying with our inlaws whilst I recuperate and that's a good thing, as I don't think I could cope with holding a lead with her pulling on it) and I was glad to see that the mud I'd endured for what felt like ages, had subsided. We saw a squashed frog on the dead end road that leads to the woods. Someone had put up a warning sign for drivers, but too late for this guy. As we explained the sign to the kids an elderly gent coming out of his house explained that it didn't mean French people. But I don't think the kids heard. The xenophobia felt archaic, though to be fair it used to be common parlance of which I also partook.
We built a little mini trampoline for the kids in the afternoon, which had frustratingly poor instructions, but which we managed to work out anyway. It seems that the people who write instructions tend to assume that because they know how to do something, everyone else does too. But this one basically said “Put on the legs†without explaining that they needed to be screwed on (which to be fair, you would work out eventually) or more pertinently that you needed to unscrew the rubber bungs on each leg hole. They were screwed on tight and without knowing that the legs screwed on you'd assume you pulled them off, but eventually we noticed the thin thread inside the leg tube and then worked out from there what had to be done. Write your instructions better you idiots.
Once up the tiny trampoline kept the kids diverted for a good length of time and also helped wear them out. Worth the frustration.
We watched Drop Dead Fred tonight which in hindsight was not entirely suitable for a 6 year old, let alone the 3 year old, who merrily parroted “Piss off!†when we told him that wasn't something he should ever say. Bad parents? For sure. Cool parents? No, we taught a three year old to say “Piss offâ€. Lovely to revisit Rik Mayall in his prime though. I don't know why he didn't really make it in Hollywood. He's incredibly funny, rude and yet totally lovely with the kids in the movie. What a force of nature he was.
