Monday 3rd August 09

Quite a frustrating day in some ways. I had a medium start, ie not a long lie-in, and was able to say bye to our guest from Leamington Spa who was meeting a friend at the station at 10.20 and then getting a train back down south at 10.40. Gill and our eldest (our guests's old classmate) went to the station on the bus and got back two hours later.

I spent the morning trying to sort out the Green Festival insurance stuff and other paperwork. Had a quiet lunch and during the afternoon the insurance got sorted... I paid for it using my debit card. This is a huge relief.

I did some good exercise too... splitting the logs I cut yesterday, and fortunately I'd cut them small enough to split reasonably easily. I popped down to Country Fresh to pick up a few bits of veg and also the weekend's compostables, about four bags or boxes, but I didn't have time to put them on the heap so they are all in the wheelbarrow waiting for tomorrow morning.

Gill made a macaroni cheese with cauliflower for the kids... I had reheated stuff from yesterday with a bit of today's nosh. Then straight out to the LETS meeting, just four of us and although I went down there feeling less than joyous, I left feeling quite a bit more buoyed up, as the company was good.

I just remembered the 'highlight' of the day was when Gill was refilling a 25 litre tub of ecover washing liquid with a 15 litre refill. She was struggling with the opening of the refill box, on the table in the living room, and suddenly it opened and it started flowing but not all of it arrived in the waiting big tub. Plenty of it went onto the short-pile carpet we have. Gill shrieked and I rescued her by holding the tub up whilst she aimed the flow into the opening... Our youngest came running to see if he could help, and found the dustpan and brush, which is what Gill initially used to scrape up the perhaps half-litre of slimy washing liquid which had spilt.

Gill then spent about an hour putting water on the carpet and taking it up again with some of the washing liquid, and again and again... what a huge palaver! I asked Gill to please ask me to help when she was attempting this kind of procedure... sometimes having two people co-operating is better than tying to do a task on your own.