Tuesday 2nd Jul

After dispensing bacon sandwiches for the teenagers’ breakfast and clearing up afterwards, I drop the eldest at school as she is off on a two day University trip with school. Mrs P and I can just hope she has everything she needs, and that she has a positive experience.

The youngest and Mrs P have departed and I’m off down to the library. It is really quiet this morning and so I get the weekend crossword finished and my email cleared. I pop in to see the folks on the way home. The ailing one has been signed off by the hospital as they are happy he is on the mend, which is good news. I pop in to the butchers to get some chops for tea and end up having a conversation about the cost of car insurance for teenagers. The butcher’s daughter is a friend of the eldest and learning to drive, so we compare war stories. The youngest had said that supermarket chops have no flavour, so hopefully he will enjoy this.

After lunch I go to collect the youngests’ iPod. The broken screen had been repaired previously, but when I picked it up on Saturday the home button didn’t work. This time it didn’t work immediately either, but after the technician looked at it again, it started working. I’m not convinced it’s mended properly, but fingers crossed as the youngest really wants it back. He’s been using mine, but it is too slow for him. He obviously couldn’t go without some form of electronic stimulus for any length of time.

I get the washing dried and the ironing done and then put the chops on. Pork for me and the youngest, lamb for Mrs P. By the time they’re ready the smoke alarm is going off. It’s not that I’ve burnt them; it’s the fat in the grill pan. Mrs P gives me a very unimpressed look when she comes in. The youngest is right the butchers fresh Cheshire Pork is much nicer than any from the supermarket.

In the evening I take my car to the friendly mechanics house as his gearbox has gone and so he can’t come to me, which is a bit worrying. He attaches the electronic tester and it looks as feared as though it might be the steering pump that has gone. In translation this means, very expensive, £££’s. There is one last chance that it is low on fluid in the pump which we are going to check out tomorrow, but Mrs P and I are braced for the worst.

Yours praying for a cheap solution.

Jay