Monday 15th Jul

Mrs P is working this morning and so I am sent to the supermarket to do the shopping. Though to be fair I have a fairly explicit list, which is written in aisle order, to help me, and ensure I don’t deviate from budget. In other words it is fairly foolproof, and in truth I manage pretty well, though like most blokes I’m not so keen when I’m given a choice of things to get, as I know I’ll likely make the wrong one.

I’m then under instructions to go to the launderette, and so pass a quiet half an hour reading the paper and watching the world go by. It seems at the moment as though Mrs P is happy to keep me busy. In the afternoon I start putting the first paint on the porch, and despite covering a very small area I manage to get undercoat on my T-shirt. Fortunately Mrs P was of the view the T-shirt was old and therefore it didn’t matter. Personally I liked it, but there you go.

When the eldest came in we packed her rucksack for her trip to Morocco. She’s off on Wednesday and it needs to be in school to be checked tomorrow. So I guess I’ll find out then how I could have packed it better. In the evening we go out for dinner with the folks, as its mum’s 70^th. It’s nice to go out and sit and chat with the teenagers, in a more grown-up environment. They still bring the electronic devices, but they aren’t completely tied to them. As the kids grow you go through stages of going to different types of restaurants, be it burger joints, pizza’s or Nandos. But now other avenues are opening up to us, as their tastes develop, albeit more expensive ones. After all every silver lining has a cloud.

Yours feasting on birthday cake.

Jay