whotheheckami | Shock, Horror!

Please sit down whilst I give you some shocking and horrifying information. I’ve had a really good weekend! I can’t remember any bad bits that marred the great time I’ve had.

Friday
I got a phone call from

gardenpixie whilst I was still at work telling me that

squaddie had seen

the_mendicant’s medical post and had decided to surprise us by coming to see us for the weekend to try to cheer us up. I drove home through the Rutland countryside feeling like it was going to be a good weekend. I stopped of at Pixie’s to find out what plans were afoot and found her pampering herself in the bath with lots of bubbles and a glass of wine. I didn’t linger and only stayed long enough to collect some stuff that Mendi had asked for. I got home to find Squaddie catching up on the sleep he’d missed on his way back from Sweden and Mendi pampering herself in the bath (without bubbles and wine, but with essential oils). Mendi seemed very pleased with herself and muttered something about Pixie giving her a very nice present that she had enjoyed unwrapping. I left her to her burblings and busied myself with some tidying, sous-cheffing for Mendi and preparation of food for Alexi and Ivan before grabbing a shower (without bubbles, wine, or essential oils)

Pixie and

daemongirl turned up at this point and we left Bob to give Squaddie some hassle whilst we met up with Kanga and took Maggie for a walk. We got back to find that Mendi had transformed the ingredients I’d chopped and prepared for her into a wonderful ham and vegetable risotto. It had more than just a hint of fresh chillis in it and was magnificent. There wasn’t a scraping left in the pan by the time we all piled into Sharan and headed into Melton Mowbray. The bands we saw at Paint the Town Red were mediocre, but the company made up for it. We had a great time and were quite a noisy and lairy bunch. This behaviour got us soundly shushed by other members of the audience, but it didn’t effect the fun we were having. Squaddie seemed to be at the centre of most of the raucousness as he questioned where his cigarettes where disappearing to! His selfless generosity on the tobacco front meant that Pixie and I had to pop out to a garage before the last band came on the re-supply; we came back to find Bob fast asleep at our table – ah bless!

We took this as a definite hint that it was getting late; after all Friday is still a school night for Bob; and headed home. I was as sober as a sober-thing and had the unenviable job of herding 6 merry loons into the car and then driving out into the wilds of the Leicestershire/Lincolnshire borderlands to deliver Fleur to her wagon. This was not helped by the tortuous route and the even more tortuous directions I was being given from all and sundry; including those who had never visited her pitch before. Despite these adversities I managed to find the correct bit of roadside, dropped Fleur and then sped home. After some more to-ing and fro-ing Mendi, Squaddie and I got back to Chez Who where we had time for a night-cap and a good long chat before heading to bed.

Saturday
Why is it that you can spend an evening filling yourself with alcohol and not have a hangover but can also have one pint and wake up with a killer headache? However, the weather was beautiful and I was able to shrug it off and head out to do the weekly grocery shopping. I came home to find that Mendi and Alexi and taken advantage of the good weather and had taken Maggie for a walk.

What followed was a very relaxing day. Squaddie got up before lunchtime, grinned at the two of us, gulped his way through a few mugs of strong coffee and then headed over to pick Bob up from school and take her out to lunch. That left the 4 of us to amuse ourselves. The boys did some of their homework, but also played on the PS2, computer and with Lego. Mendi made herself a nest in the garden, stripped off and read for about 3 hours. I napped for about an hour and then attacked the 2 ivy plants on the front of the house. I hadn’t done anything with them for over a year and they needed drastic attention. I don’t like them to go above 3m, but here they were clambering their way onto the roof! I scraped and hacked and stripped and eventually had them trimmed down to 2 narrow (60cm) strips about 2m high. I’m not sure if I’ve sculpted them into Brazilians or Holywoods but they’ve had a damn-good shave!

It was about 16:30 by the time I’d finished and tidied up and I heard Mendi taking a call from Pixie who was worried where Bob and Squaddie had got to. We told her not to worry and that they’d come back; which they did. They’d had a lovely afternoon together wandering about Rutland and poor Squaddie’s feet were all blistered. He never made it back to our house; instead he kipped on Pixie’s sofa and gossiped with Bob whilst Pixie and a romantic interlude with Rob.

This left Mendi and I to spend a very quiet evening together watching TV, eating crispy duck with pancakes and generally working hard at relaxing. I was exhausted and very tired and achy from all the pruning I’d done and I could not stay awake after 10pm – I put it down to ivy-poisoning ;@)

Sunday
Mendi and I got up gradually after being awoken at 06:30 by Alexi clattering through the house in search of food. I went and foraged for breakfast for Mendi and me which we duly scoffed and then we proceeded to doze and read and find other ways to keep ourselves occupied until 10am. What a civilised way to start a day! :@D

We made good use of the glorious weather by press-ganging Alexi and Ivan into joining us in walking Maggie. We didn’t go too far – only about 3 miles, but we came back ladened down with logs and twigs for the fire. It won’t be too long before we go out on a serious firewood gathering expedition to the woodland that surrounds Rutland Water. Then I’ll get to have lots of fun with

chaoshedgerow’s or a hired chainsaw, cutting the stuff down to fire-sized lumps!

The Wanderers (Pixie, Bob and Squaddie together with Pixie’s labrador Fennel) returned from Barleythorpe in time for lunch and I stir-fired up a storm of Chinese noodles with vegetables, turkey and chilli (lots of chilli – mmmm). Suitably engorged we all just had the energy to sit in the garden and drink Pimm’s for the rest of the afternoon. The weather was sublime and it was a pleasure to host other members of the Unusual Suspects as they turned up. Kanga hopped over with some clothes for Bob and the Elrond and Shad put in an appearance. I was gainfully employed fetching and carrying drinks and giving a foot massage to Shad which, by the sounds she was making, she was enjoying a lot ;@).

At some pint in the afternoon I was despatched to try on the Goth/Bondage gear that Squaddie had worn on Friday much to the delight of Mendi! After quite a bit of squeezing I constrictedly rattled downstairs making as much noise as when I used to be kitted out in flying suit, g-pants, leg and arm restraints to get strapped into an ejection seat during flying training. I felt a complete prat, but the reaction on Mendi and Pixie’s faces seemed to overrule my opinion. I think I’ll be going shopping before too long! ;@)

We only moved in from the garden when the sun had left the garden, but by then it was time to say goodbye to some of our guests. After dog walking we sat down to a really good take-away curry before bidding farewell to the rest of our guests. It was particularly hard to say goodbye to Squaddie who had made the weekend so much fun – thanks mate and hurry back!