Friday 12th Jul

Will this blessed sunshine never end? Well I’d certainly be happy with a few more days. In fact I must have found myself in a holiday frame of mind, as I got the flip flops out today.

I decided to continue my recent efforts on the bike and went for an hour’s ride this morning, before the real heat of the day. I specifically picked a route that would avoid the temptation of Tuesday’s steep hill, and so returned home in better condition. I hope the cycling is doing me some good; it seems to be getting a little easier each time. I worry if by the time I get competent, the winter won’t have arrived.

I managed to fit in a coffee break in front of the Ashes, which is turning out a thrilling first test, with any luck we’ll squeeze past the Aussie’s in this one. I return to my DIY project and finish filling the appropriate holes in the porch, and then sanding where appropriate. I can see the lure of undercoating on the horizon.

I’ve just finished clearing my emails when the eldest returns from school, to tell me she’s off to her friends for tea, and could I drop her off. So jay-le-taxi sallies forth, but her friends are not where they were expected to be, so I leave her promising to text me shortly to let me know they’re together. Half-an-hour later I’m rather peeved not to have had any contact, and let her know as much by text. Still no response! Eventually she replies apologising profusely, but basically she forgot to let me know they were together. She has the attention span of a goldfish when it suits her.

I bung some burgers on the barbecue, making the most of the sunshine, and watch some cricket with the youngest before Mrs P comes in. The eldest had been catered for in the burger stakes, but fortunately having a teenage boy means any potentially spare food does not go to waste. Jay-le-taxi then drops the youngest off at cricket and returns to collect him later. Then come the late texts from the eldest, and at around 11.15pm jay-le-taxi is waiting at the station to pick her up. I thought now she can drive there’d be a bit less of this, but no, it’s way past my bed time and here I am, in kinship with so many other parents of teenagers, sat in the car in the dark waiting for the offspring.

Yours remembering they’re still teenagers, and not adults.

Jay