NotSheep

Saturday morning brought, first of all, the careful removal of a very large box from the back of Scratchy’s car. We finally settled on a shed, so we cleared room for it, and for the building of it, and got to work. We were pleasantly surprised at how easily it all went together, and within an hour of starting, we were almost ready to put on the roof. I had to leave then, to take George, Freddy, Tim and Jack to the Junior Band practice, so into the car went those four, Toby, who wanted to come along, plus a trumpet, a cornet, a baritone horn and a tuba. I love Gloria

Tim joined the rest of the band while the others were sent to a small room off the main hall for D (the instruments man) to give them a lesson, as they’re all absolute beginners. I left them to it and brought Toby home again, and returned to shed-building. I had less than an hour before I had to return to collect the young musicians, but by the time I left, the shed was almost finished. It took about five minutes to complete it once I got home again.

When I got to the hall where the band practise, I found George, Freddy and Jack sitting watching the rest of the band go through their pieces. D came over to talk to me and told me that Jack can hold a note for ages, considering his size and lack of experience, and that while Freddy has the hardest job (biggest instrument, most air needed!) he can “get a good sound out of it”. D pointed to George and said, “See that one? Instant. Got it right away. He’s going to be a terrific trumpet player.” George was understandably pleased about that

While we’d waited beforehand we’d been discussing whether there were any other tubas in the band; Freddy now pointed towards the band and said “Look, there’s one other tuba.” I looked but couldn’t get a good view, and asked, “Is it a full-size tuba or is it the same size as yours?” George’s head spun around towards us and he spluttered, “What?!? You mean Freddy’s is a small one?!?” He looked and sounded so shocked that I burst out laughing. I really must get the opportunity to show him a full-sized tuba sometime.

Lunch was a hasty affair, because the four oldest had to be back out and into the city by 1.30, for another afternoon of water-sports. This week they were canoeing, and Scratchy was joining them, just so there was an extra adult on hand, as L, who runs the group, wasn’t able to be there. They had another good day out on the river, and came home tired and mostly wet. While they were out, I filled up the shed with most of the stuff from the garage that wasn’t bicycles, skateboards, skates, balls, etc. It has certainly freed up space in the garage, and we’ve created a makeshift bicycle-rack – we don’t need a galvanised, weather-proof, theft-proof one costing many hundreds of pounds, so we made our own from a few bits of decking and some cheap table-legs from Ikea. Total cost: under £30, and now when one bicycle falls over in the garage, it doesn’t take another seven down like dominoes

Freddy and I did a bit of tidying in the garage this morning, then we moved the tent that’s out in the garden, to allow the grass underneath it to recover. I power-washed the patio and most of the garden toys, then came in sopping wet. Once dried and changed, I got on the treadmill. I am back on C25K – my third attempt, and I’m taking it much more gradually than the programme calls for, but it’s slowly working. I’ve now done two sessions of Week 2, which is about a week-and-a-half further than I ever got before. And I’m trying to focus on the fact that I have lost a little bit of weight rather than the fact that I still have a large bit to go.

After lunch George and Freddy asked if they could cycle to the video rental shop and rent a DVD. Tim was invited but didn’t want to go, so he stayed here and played with Jack. A while later I received a phone-call from George: the DVD they wanted to rent was a 12+, and he didn’t have any proof that he was 12, so they wouldn’t let him rent it. I told him to ask if they’d take my word for it over the phone, but they wouldn’t, so Scratchy drove down to take care of the rental. George and Freddy cycled all the way home again though, and Freddy has been wondering since if birthday cards would be adequate proof of age

I spent most of the afternoon considering tents – not much locally on ebay, a few on gumtree but only one real possibility, and the phone number given for it is wrong! Tesco has one that would do, at half-price, but it’s out of stock, and we are very tempted by the tent that a friend is selling, but getting it over from England could be costly, so we’re still undecided.

After dinner the boys watched the rented DVD – Jack proclaimed that it had been “a lot of money but it was worth it” and they all went to bed happy. And that’s the end of the weekend, which is where we’re at now, and I’m finally caught up, so I shall bid you goodnight