Pleiades BBQ 2013

We received our annual invite to Fogg Manor for a weekend of wine, food and daftness. this year the theme was 'cartoon characters'. As you can see, The Flintstones were a popular choice (but not that popular with the dog walkers we met on our 'in character' walk along the canal tow path!) 

We dined on delicious pork, lamb and stuffed peppers; drank champoo, wine and cider; played Bartenga, dunked in the hot tub and even learned how to create kumihimo. As the evening moved on, we moved outside to observe the night sky, we saw constellations, many satellites, the ISS AND some meteors. 

If you have the chance, go outside tonight, sit in your deck chair and look up, it should be a good show. http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide

This weekend is a highlight of our calendar, a great chance to appreciate the finer things in life, food, drink, nature...and good friends. Thank you. x

Congratulations Ma'am - Diamond Jubilee

We visited the Fogg's new home in the wooded depths of the East Riding of Yorkshire, leafy, rural with wonderful birdsong all around.
We enjoyed a meat feast banquet at every meal, champagne and a jacuzzi in the garden. (There's nothing like a fizzy dip at 8.30am to get your blood moving!)
The Caddyfrog's (formerly known as the Cadwallader's. See meteor-hot-tub-bbq BLOG) and The Foggs really got into the spirit of the fancy dress with Mr Caddyfrog unable to tell the difference between his homemade sceptre and the real thing (cue discussion about which diamond is in the sceptre). The Caddyfrog's won the prize for best dressed, which was an 18" wide floating rubber duck that was duly knighted Dave the Duck by Mrs Caddyfrog.
Marsha and Nelly had a whale of a time, climbing trees, hot tubbin', film making, reading and having a wander round the village. We played, coits, golf, bartenga, tennis and swing-ball. We watched the flotilla on the TV and ignored the rain. We saw the villagers 'parade' to the local hall. (Actually the walked past the house in rain macs and umbrellas but the intent was there, the only fancy dress was worn by a wet weimeraner.)
I particularly enjoyed the very confusing 4 way conversations and Mrs Caddyfrog's trifle served from Aunty Gerty's crystal bowl!
As ever, a weekend of fun and frolic, wine and food, friends and family. Thank you all, xxxxx
Long Live the Queen!

Dressing up time

We have been invited to the Fogg's for the annual meteor shower BBQ hot tub experience. This year with a twist - no meteors, not that we've been sober enough to witness any thus far anyway! This year it's a Jubilee BBQ hot tub, garden game extravaganza. Also, costumes in the theme, "Kings & Queens" are de riguer. so with 4 days to go and a limited budget I have had the printer on full speed, all the local charity shops have been stripped of suitable wear and Nanny is knitting like a dervish. Tomorrow I'll get the pinking shears and sewing machine out. After The Fogg's appearance at Christmas In March in full Mr & Mrs Santa at the door, we have a lot to live up to.
So as long as we can get the costumes ready in time, we'll be looking forward to the 9m x 3m gazebo and 8 person hot tub (what water shortage?).
Look out Fogg's, here we come!

Dandelion Wine

Nelly, Marsha and Glumdog picking dandelions today, the traditional day to pick them is St George's Day but I was afraid the council would come and mow the field!

We gathered a whole carrierbag of flowerheads, the pollen stained our hands and the smell from the bag was.....horrible.

 After 90 minutes of separating the petals from the green parts I am left with 7 pints of petals.

 Add the zest and juice of 4 lemons and 2 oranges.

Add 16 pints of boiling water and leave to steep for 4 hours.
...to be continued

Happy Days

Good Friday. Yes i agree it was good. A wonderful afternoon spent with The Glums in the local woods, walking, climbing trees, taking photos, throwing tennis balls at each other and generally enjoying each others company.
I don't have natural brothers and sisters but in Mr and Mrs Glum I feel I do.
Mr Fink was turned into a 'ninja' by Nelly and he tried to locate her zombie style. It was really quite spooky!
We finished our walk with tea (supplied by me) and cake supplied by Mrs Glum. Then we headed off to the Grand Union pub at Three Locks near Leighton Buzzard. A lovely meal with good humour.
We headed home (Mr Glum got a bit lost) and had a smashing day.
Thank you friends, we love you. xxx

2012 - Day One in the Fink House

Well happy New Year to you, may health, peace and happiness be your constant companions this year and beyond.
As is our tradition, we teamed up with the Glums and headed to Southend for New Year's Day - fish and chips.
We took Nanny along for good measure, but accidentally forgot Graham (sorry mate, next time, perhaps).

We had fish and chips at a lovely little cafe then went off to the pier for a mile long walk...but the pier cost a pound each so I said, "No, I will not pay!" and voted with my feet!
Nanny and I went off to do some metal detecting (very uneventful) while the others went off to the arcades.
After a while it started to rain so Nanny and I headed back to the car.

All in all a very gentle day with good friends, the perfect start to a new year.

A Peaceful and Happy New Year to you all!

Wow, didn't that come and go fast?

Christmas Eve was spent with The Glums, wonderful food by Mrs Glum, great home movies by Bambi (Mr Glum). the most amazing surprise came when the glums insisted (as they do) that we open each other's gifts on the spot. Mr Fink and I were handed a long package. We looked at each other in puzzlement, this gift was about 2 metres long by half a metre wide???? as we unwrapped it, we realised what it was. (In the blog entry, "you can take the girl out of Colney" - you will remember Mr Fink and I went to a junk emporium, while there we spotted the most beautiful paining of a lady in a red velvet dress reclining, we both fell in love with it but couldn't quite justify spending the money just before Xmas, so reluctantly we left it there. We mentioned this in passing to The Glums' the next day and thought no more of it. The next day Nelly and I went back to the junk shop to get the picture for Mr Fink but it had gone. Doh!) The Glums had visited the shop early the next day and bought it for us. We were speechless, what a lovely gift. Thank you!

On Xmas Day, Mr Fink, Nelly (aka Little Fink) and I spent a wonderful day with my parents, Nanny and Shouty Grandad. Shouty Grandad spent most of the day looking for The Scotch Tape (a cassette of bagpipe music with which he tortures Nelly in the campervan) and for the campervan keys. The sight of him alternately looking worried and then smiling at the annoyance of knowing the keys are in the house but "Where?", was very funny to watch and had me giggling all morning.
In the end the keys were located in one of the many hiding places he has for items of value (you've heard the one about him stashing the holiday money in his going out shoes, forgetting and being crippled all night at a party due to ten pound notes taking him down a few shoe sizes?)
We shared gifts, swapped stories and generally had a lovely morning.
We had the best dinner ever, Heston eat your heart out. Mum, you are the best.
After dinner we played the now traditional round of homemade Deal or no Deal, which can be a bit of a trial unless Shouty Grandad is losing, then it gets really funny. Nelly made a Christmas quiz for us, this year it was boys v girls and nanny and I won! Woo Hoo - we didn't brag tooooooo much.

Mr Fink has made himself a digital jukebox, which he is enjoying playing with. 2 days ago I went to collect a pasta maker from a Freecycler and got a puncture in Mr Fink's car. Yesterday I took Nelly horseriding, Marsha was also there, Marsha's horse reared up and bucked her off. Bambi and I though we were going to have to call an ambulance for her but after a few minutes she seemed ok and has suffered no damage, thankfully. (ALWAYS wear your hat and body protector if you are playing with horses.)

It's now New Year's Eve, I received a phone call this morning from my bank, checking the validity of a purchase I apparently tried to make yesterday, £291 to Emu-Oz's Party Shop in Australia. I agreed with the lady from the bank that it was not me trying to buy £300 worth of party gear just after Xmas, so they declined the transaction and stopped my card. Well done to the bank for monitoring my buying patterns and preventing a fraud I probably wouldn't have picked up till my next pay day.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and our traditional 'fish and chips on the beach' new Year's Day with the Glums, Southend, here we come!

Well, may I wish you all peace and good wishes for the coming year, may it find and leave you in good health, good spirits and with the people you love. xxx

Opened my mouth and put my foot in it.

Last night, Mr Fink, Little Fink (aka Nelly) Mrs Glum, Bambi, Marsha and I went to London to see Les Miserables. Mrs Glum works at a local school that organised a coach and the tickets. We boarded the bus and set off in the rush hour traffic down the M1.
Mr Fink took out his phone and began to play the on-line dart game he enjoys. Often when he goes to bed, he will have a few games of darts on the phone while I'm reading. I hear him muttering under his breath at his opponent, "miss, miss, miss". Sometimes he even tilts the phone to divert his opponent's shot.
Anyway, there was lots of banter on the coach, as there always is when The Finks and The Glums get together. I chided Mr Fink about his on-line dart playing ability and in a too loud voice said, "You're no good at it in bed, what makes you think it will be any easier bouncing up and down on the back of the coach."

You'd think that would have shut me up. No.
On the way home, one lady had been declaring that she couldn't eat any of the treats, sarnies, buns or chocs that were being shared as she was on a strict diet. During the journey through London's food quarter, she finally cracked and said, "I've not eaten for 6 weeks!" To which I replied, "I thought I could smell Lighter Life!" (Oops - i meant, "that sounds familiar - Lighter Life by any chance?" but it came out wrong. DOH!

Les Mis was terrific - I loved it, powerful voices, intimate venue, great story and amazing visuals. highly recommended.

Spring break

We're back from 2 weeks in Cumbrian lake District , 'where the mountains meet the sea'.
Little Fink, Marsha and I spent a week of rain and yukky weather together in Aunty Joan's caravan by the sea. We met loads of family members at Aunty Joan's birthday party and Aunty Mary's family BBQ.
Then Mr Fink joined us and the weather turned all summery, we swam in the sea, went horseriding, kayaked on Coniston, sunbathed, read, painted, visited Whitehaven, Uncle John's farm on Corney fell (with chicks and lambs too) and had a hair raising trip to Gutterby. We were visited by cousin Brenda and Uncle John Bennett.
We slept a lot in the afternoon and the girls enjoyed great freedom.
The highlight of the trip? when Mr Fink, Little Fink and Marsha when kayaking on Consiton. The other families that landed their boats and canoes complained that their feet got wet during the 'dismount'. When the Fink Kayak landed, Mr Fink tried to get out and tipped the whole thing over, girls and all. Everyone on the bank thought it was very funny (me included!)

It's a Holi Holiday

This is the sight that greets me most mornings, Billie The Bunny waiting patiently for her treat. Yes, she is sitting on the skateboard. Stuff like this just seems normal here these days!
Well, we're almost packed and ready to go oop North for our week's holiday. Just the final bits and the packed lunch to sort out. We've invited Little Fink's pal Marsha (my surrogate daughter) to join us this year and the highlight of their trip is to go horseriding down the beach at Silecroft on Thursday. Hopefully it won't rain as hard as it did last year, but if it does - so what. We're not camping so I don't really mind! We'll be collecting Little Fink from Nanny and Shouty Grandad half way up the M6. Not at Sandbach services this time though, at a lay by chosen my Shouty Grandad. Why would he choose the layby instead of the services? I don't know, I can only think he is saving diesel and wear and tear on the camper van by avoiding the extra 16 miles, yes 16 miles, to turn the campervan round on the M6. Who knows?
Anyway, Haverigg here we come!

Merry Christmas 2009

Well, we've had chance to make the most of our Christmas. We enjoyed the company of Nanny and Shouty Grandad. Nanny and I cooked the duck and turkey on Christmas Eve (I have no idea how other people fit it all in the oven on Christmas Day!) and enjoyed an evening of silly games and fun.

Christmas Day Little Fink had the itinerary all planned out and we opened our gifts in relative calm! We watched the Queen's speech and had lunch.

we played some more games, watched Doctor Who - a little light on anything actually happening but beautifully set up for New Year's Day.

All in all a good couple of days, I'm enjoying being away from work and just relaxing to be honest. I've also decided, for several reasons, to go tea-total for next year - I've already done 3 weeks and it's not as easy as it looks! I like to relax on my days off, Mr Fink is not like me, he gets ants in his pants and feels like he should be up and doing things. Not me. My normal week is full of charging around, when I have a week off, I like to slow right down!

I had a lovely day at the pictures watching Avatar - 9/10. We've just had a smashing evening playing board games with The Glums. Always an entertaining time. Off to Ikea tomorrow, pictures again, Sherlock this time. New Year's Eve Mr Fink is off for his second consultation about having his eye lenses replaced to correct his vision.

It's all go!

A BIG Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday. Little Fink gave me a home made Hacker puppet, complete with moving arms and mouth. Mr Fink gave me a beautiful ring with my favourite stone in it. In the evening we went out to the local carvery for a meal with my mum and dad, my in-laws and my honorary sister, brother (Mrs Glum and Bambi) and their children Marsha and Bambino.

We had a wonderful night, mediocre food but great company and lots of laughing and fun.

Bambino gave me a keyring. Marsha gave me a Barbie doll, because she knows how much I LOVE BARBIE! Mrs Glum and Bambi gave me a lovely pearl choker and jewellery box.

I am a very lucky 40 year old! thank you all.

Wet Wet Wet

This Sunday Mr Fink had planned to take the family to the seaside. He and Little Fink were going to fly kites and Nanny and I were going to go metal detecting.

However, the weather looked less than promising so we decided to go to the lake and feed the ducks instead.

We bought our bags of duck food and walked down to the water's edge. The heavens opened. the rain wasn't just falling out of the sky, it was as if someone was actually throwing it down or it was coming out of a hose.

We had 2 large golfing umbrellas, Marsha and Little Fink under one and me and Mr Fink under the other.

The ducks soon got wise to the umbrella idea and huddled by our feet scoffing the seeds.

So we can honestly say the weather was so bad today, even the ducks appreciated our brollies!

(When we got back to the car a gust of wind flipped Mr Fink's brolly inside out and bent it over in one action - wild!)

Twilight and New Moon

A few weeks ago, we played host to J1 who came to stay for the weekend, he was a delight and we'd look after him again like a shot. One evening while he was here, Little Fink asked if they could watch 'Twilight'. We said, 'yes' so we set up the dvd player and they sat upstairs on my bed and watched it. I didn't think anymore of it - Little Fink had read all the books and J1 has 2 sisters that have read all the books.

I have arranged for Little Fink, Marsha and a school friend to come with me to see the next film in the series, New Moon, today, so last night I thought it would be a good idea to watch the first movie. Mr Fink and I settled down after Little Fink had gone to bed to watch.

The film was very good, about the blossoming romance between an out of town high school girl and a 17 year old vampire and the struggle they have to be together against all odds (and his struggle to not bite her!) I was very impressed, the blood and violence minimal but the intent was clearly portrayed. The romance was handled very well, tender and caring with a little kissing and rising passion, but nothing too uncomfortable for pre-teens. We did get a little worried at one point where the first kiss happened, in the heroine's bedroom, it all got a little heated, Mr Fink and I looked at each other and wondered if we had made the right decision to allow J1 and Little Fink to watch the film together out of our sight, but the film makers handled the moment very well and propriety was restored. Phew.

I'm really looking forward to taking the girls to the cinema this afternoon and have a feeling I may be borrowing the other 2 books in the series from Little Fink tonight!

Little Fink's Birthday Day Out

Mr Fink and Little Fink about 30ft up a tree about to jump off the platform into a cargo net. And she calls this a treat??

Little Fink asked if she could visit Go Ape for her birthday treat with some friends. she missed it when the Cubs went as she was unwell. We took, Mrs Glum, Bambi, Bambino and Marsha, J1 and his mum Lara Croft (she is fearless and will have a go at anything, must be the Aussie in her?)

They were fitted with harnesses and had a safety talk, after all, they were going to be 30 feet up in the air walking on wires, jumping off platforms and whizzing down zip wires.

Then they were off, they were so brave and careful and full of fun. None of them chickened out and all of them enjoyed it. The zip wires were quick and high, some of the landings were pretty hard but the men soon managed to brush the dirt off their backs (and their pride) and carried on! All in all everyone agreed it was a great excursion, several of them claiming it was good value for money and the best day out they had had for ages - and that was just the adults! We'll definitely go again.

It's Little Fink's birthday on Sunday so we can expect an early start in the morning. We've got Silver Surfer and Astral, Nanny and Shouty Grandad coming round tomorrow for dinner and cake.

(Hopefully next door's dog will have barked itself hoarse well before then!)

A what???

I treated myself to a Venus Fly Trap plant at the weekend, something to keep me occupied while Little Fink is away.

It didn't seem to attract flies on it's own and it looked a bit sad when I got it back from the shop so I wondered if it would accept other forms of protein?

I looked around the kitchen and saw the cat food. I chopped up really tiny portions of it and put it in the leaves, the leaves closed and we shall see if I have created Audrey 3 (Little Shop of Horrors reference) or if I have killed the little plant!

Marsha came over, looked at the plant and said,

"Please may I have a look at your Venus Try Flap?"

It could have been worse I suppose!

The Silly Season Begins

Long time no post.

On Sunday I left Mr Fink busily putting the camping gear away and playing with his new surround sound system (apologies to the neighbours, it wasn't my idea) and went off with The Glums to their caravan. The caravan lives, for most of the year in a secure depot, nearby. You would have thought we were on holiday, the weather was warm, Mrs Glum and I sitting in camping chairs enjoying cups of tea. Then Marsha and I picked some blackberries, unfortunately not enough for jam as we ate most of what we picked!

On the way home I happened to notice someone had left a life size plastic heron in the field and mentioned it in passing.

Later that evening we were watching Gryff Rees Jones on a program tracing the path of the River Lea through Beds and Herts when he visited Hatfield House where he was looking at an Elizabethan map. The map had a note on it to show where the heronry was. DING. "Mr Fink, do you fancy a game of plant the heron?" After I explained to Mr Fink, we set off to nab the heron. Under cover of darkness we drove to the field, I got out, Graham is so lifelike that in the twilight I thought, "If that thing moves I shall die of fright!"I abducted Graham and jumped back in the car. Next we made our way to Glum Towers. I gained access to the front porch, positioned Graham.....argh, I could hear child's footsteps going up the stairs. I quietly shut the porch, ran to the waiting car, jumped in and drove off, just as Marsha's bedroom light came on.

As we drove home, we were giggling like a pair of fools, congratulating ourselves on a fine bit of silliness. The only question is, will Bambi (Mr Glum) see the funny side or will he in his early morning stupor, fall over him and break his (Bambi's) nose?

Time will tell.

Bad Mother Award - Bronze Medal

Today I took Little Fink and Marsha to the local swimming pool with flumes. They left me with my book in the seating area at 11.30am. Little Fink had a horse riding lesson at 4pm which meant they needed to be out of the water at about 2pm - 2.30pm.

The time marched round to 1.30pm and it occurred to me that I had seen neither hide nor hair of them in 2 hours. Eek. What a bad mother I was. I looked around, up the stairs where the children were waiting to take their turn, in the lazy river, in the paddling pool and in the throng of children walking past.

I thought that by the law of averages, I should have caught a glimpse of them by now, but i had not.

I started to worry, what if i have to admit to the lifeguards that I can't find my children? He will ask what are they wearing? To tell the truth, when I see the girls, of course, I will know them, but to describe the costumes was beyond me. I know the one she had when she was 6 but not this one.

Then I saw a slither of black and Speedo orange....Little Fink floating past on the lazy river. I put two fingers in my mouth and let out the ear splitting Mrs Fink "come here" whistle (which all Little Fink's friends know and respond to - it even worked at a Premier League Football match!). Duly 2 figures came trotting over and sanity was restored, children were dried and changed.

We got to the riding lesson to find it had been cancelled. Doh!

Food for Thought - Happy Birthday Mr Fink

Today was Mr Fink's forty (ahem) th birthday! He was woken to presents and a huge Happy Birthday badge from Little Fink and a bacon and scrambled egg breakfast from me.

Little fink had asked me to book a table at Frankie & Benny's to celebrate and of course The Glum's were invited. Mr fink didn't know the venue for the meal until we were nearly there, he did know The glums were coming so we were a little puzzled as to why they were hiding in the cinema next door until we arrived? Odd!

We all enjoyed lovely food, sharing and trying everything. The 3 children (Marsha, Little Fink and Bambino) shared an enormous pud called The Godfather. It had chocolate brownie, cream, ice-cream, wafers, berries and all manner of things on it. Bambi had one all to himself and I bet him he wouldn't eat it all. I owe him 5p and he almost finished it before I'd eaten my slice of cheesecake! (Bambi is usually the one that things happen to, but today at was I who spilled my sauce down my front!) We had a lovely time, good conversation, good food, good friends.
Thank you and Happy Birthday Mr Fink (The Glums win the prize for the largest birthday gift - we could hardly shut the boot of the Finkmobile!)

Hasta Manana

View out to sea from The Stupa at Benalmadena

see this link for further details

Marsha, Astral-Asterix, Silver Surfer, Little Fink (weird floating witch child) and Mr Fink (Mrs Fink safely behind the camera).

Our Spanish holiday was perfect (apart from Mr Fink's food poisoning). We started out on Saturday morning with some local 'colour'. A local Finkleton resident had had too much sun and decided this was the day to stand on the roof of the garages and shout at policemen. They shut the road and fire engines, ambulances and local chavs got a good morning's entertainment. Marsha arrived with her tiger skin luggage and we broke through the cordon and headed for the airport. As we wandered through the airport, Marsha's dad, Bambi - who had dropped us off, sent a message "Got lost on way out, went up a one way road at the airport". We were stopped at baggage check in by the attendant who asked if we had permission to take Marsha out of the country? Luckily we had thought this might happen and produced a signed note to say we did have permission - I thanked the guy for checking - very reassuring. The flight passed uneventfully, Mr Fink and I busily boning up on our Spanish language, the girls listening to music and complaining about poppy ears.

We arrived in good spirits and Grandad Silver Surfer picked us up from Malaga airport (next to the San Miguel factory, you can't miss it!)

Sunday The Fink clan headed for the beach, had a quick dip and then were summoned up to The Drunken Sailor for a sumptuous English Sunday Dinner, served by Rose and Dave. We met some lovely friends, Terry and Lou, Maureen and George and a host of others - mostly Cockneys! After dinner we explored the beautiful Marina at Benalmadena (pronounced Benal-madn-a, only tourists call it Benal-ma-deena apparently). In the evening we put the girls to bed and had a game of poker - we decided the winner at the end of the week would collect the pot.

Monday we headed for the beach again. I showed Marsha how to snorkel and we headed off, saw sea-cucumbers, black spiny sea-urchins, hermit crabs galore, sea bream, sea bass, little fish and jelly fish (I got stung on the leg by a little one!). Unfortunately I spent a little too long in the water and burned my back. (typical, I'd been nagging the kids and Mr Fink all day to be careful in the sun - Grandad burned his tum too).

Tuesday we took the girls to the SeaLife centre, Little Fink had got info that her Blue Peter badge would get her into the centre free. Bravely I pushed Mr Fink to the front of the queue and waited for him to explain that in his pidgin Spanish.. He did very well. In the afternoon we went for dinner and i had my dream meal - we had 2 enormous plates of seafood and fish, langoustines, clams, mussels, huge prawns, fried baby squid (the girls were eating them like sweets!) calamari all delicious and fresh, with garlic sauce and salad. Hmmmm my favourite.

Wednesday we went to Mijas up in the mountains and were entertained by flamenco dancers in the town square, explored the bull ring, walked around the town and saw beautiful vistas, we had Spanish tapas at a little cafe. All was lovely. The famous Mijas donkey taxis were around but to our English animal-loving eyes, they didn't seem very happy.

Thursday we called on Terry and Lou to borrow their pool as Nanny and Grandad's pool had not been safety checked by the council and was closed. The pool was lovely, the grass green and sumptuous. The girls really enjoyed themselves, playing dolphin and dolphin trainer for hours. There were only 3 other people around so we pretty much had it to ourselves. At dinner that night, Grandad cooked a lovely paella, delicious. We had word from Marsha's parents, The Glums via text message that they were at the Ritz enjoying dinner!

Friday we went to Aqualand at Torremolinos (if you go, remember to print off £3 off vouchers before you go or get them from shops before you go) it was terrific. It is a theme park with rides but everything is water related and done in your swimming cozzy. Armed with hats and shirts to protect us from the sun (you can tell English people a mile off, they are all bright red and burned to a crisp) we went on the rides. I ventured on the black hole (a tube ride in the pitch black, 2 to a dinghy!) with Marsha and ended up upside down with grazed knees in the pool at the end! The others went on all manner of things, 80ft vertical drops (Mr Fink) twister slides (Little Fink, Marsha) and we all went on the Crazy Lanes, 4 lanes of slide, into a deep pool at the end, it looked quite high but otherwise not too scary. How wrong could I be? We sat down, I crossed my feet and my arms across my chest and set off. I went like a rocket on the film of water under me. I hit the pool at the bottom at a hundred miles an hour. The leg of my swimming costume usually residing in the crook of my leg had migrated 12 inches and was firmly buried under my armpit. i was not wearing a thong which was splitting me in half. this wasn't the worst part - the delicate among you should look away now. I realised the I had hit the water so fast that it had defied gravity and entered places water should never go with out medical supervision. Gravity was now reclaiming it's hold and I needed a toilet fast! we renamed the ride, The Double Enema.

Saturday Mr Fink was unwell so I took the girls with Nanny and Grandad to the Marina for some present shopping, a go on the bungees and a last meal at The Drunken Sailor, we were serenaded by Reuben and his Spanish guitar at the table and everything was lovely.

We packed our things, paid Grandad his poker winnings and headed back to the airport and home to a chilly night and a rainy rest of the week. Spain never seemed so far away. A beautiful place, full of kind and patient people, gorgeous scenery and terrific food and culture. We can't wait to return. Thank you Nanny and Grandad xxx