Friday 24 February 2012

Car keys, foundations and a bird

Having my parents living just up the road instead of 60-odd miles away as they used to do comes in handy on many occasions such as feeding the cat when I am away or doing bits of shopping for me when they are out and about.
This week I set my Dad a new challenge............I had been to Tesco with one of the littlies, loaded the shopping into the boot, strapped the little chap into his car seat, shut the door then went to open the driver’s door.  Ah, right, ok then..............keys are inside the car on the seat (having slung them there to free up a hand for seat harness operation) and the doors have self locked.  Normally my folks would have been out in another town doing their shopping but fortunately today they had stayed local.  I called their house phone and by some miracle my Dad answered (he normally sits in the same room as the phone and announces “phone” when it rings so my Mum and her dodgy hip can shuffle forth and take the call)...... “I need you to go and get my spare car key please and bring it to Tesco as I am locked out and the little chap is in the car” I announced, following this up with the location of my spare key.  I was a little concerned that he might not find the key and he has absolutely no idea of my mobile number for further instructions (however he carries his own house phone number in his top pocket as even after five years he has still not remembered it!).........never mind, he managed to find it and I spotted him coming into the car park.  I started to wave frantically (rather like the man in the 1970’s coastguard adverts when the people on the beach thought he was waving a greeting rather than indicating he was about to drown) and after a visit into the store Dad reappeared and spotted me.  All sorted out and the little chap decided to sleep through the whole event!  I am glad the rain decided to hold off as I had quite enough of getting soaked at the rugby day.  What a daft feature on a car, self locking after thirty seconds non-use after being unlocked.
The ongoing saga of the falling down conservatory has moved up a notch.  The company have agreed that it needs to come down and the foundations will be 2.5 metres instead of the 13 inches that is currently holding (almost) up the structure.  This all sounds good.............however, they plan to make a start on it in the middle of March.  This is the same time my Mum’s new hip is being installed...........looks like a busy couple of weeks then.  Dad will need to hone his tea and coffee making skills to keep the chaps hydrated.  I would offer to do this but unfortunately due to the fact that I don’t drink hot beverages, apparently I cannot make them.  Visitors to my house are given the accoutrements to create a cup of hot stuff and left to get on with it...............I find that friendships are preserved this way.  The only person who actually did brave my brown liquid in a mug was the window cleaner.  He has subsequently given up his window round in its entirety.  This is a totally true fact.
This week I managed to take some really good photos of a red kite (string less variety) as it floated around over my house.  What a beautiful creature it was to behold happily letting the warm air carry it back and forth with ideal spying opportunities for its lunch.  For many years now I have wanted to capture some pictures of one, however up until now my only option has been to stand in the outside lane of the M40 near to their nesting grounds.  As this is obviously a little tricky (not to say probably illegal) I have not tried and so the unexpected appearance of the feathered one made my day!
Hopefully the England Rugby Union team can extend my happiness this weekend, however I shan’t hold my breath judging by their past two performances.

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