Rounders in the Park

The weather forecast for Sunday is not looking good - Heavy rain showers.
We will make a decision at 11am on Sunday as to whether (scuse the pun) the weather will curtail the fun.
Watch this blog for updates.

Larks In The Park

Sunday 21st August from 1pm

Summer Revels

Friends and Family invited to enjoy rounders in the park.

Bring a picnic, chairs cameras and any outdoor games/ entertainments

(kites, boules, Frisbee, poi, diablo etc etc)

We will bring the rounders kit and we'll have a jolly old time.

(If by any chance we should cancel, the notification will go up on here.)

Walk With The Stars

Last week, Astral spent her second week in the local hospice. what a beautiful, serene, 'happy' place. While I was visiting on Monday, I came across a leaflet, "Walk With The Stars" raise money for the hospice by completing a sponsored 5 mile walk. "I'll do it." I thought.
I registered, i set up my sponsor page and as an incentive I said, if I were to get £100 I would do the walk in my pyjamas. The next thing I know, The Foggs (and many others) had sent £100, just to make sure I wore my pyjamas. I said If I were to raise £200 I would carry Graham T Heron round with me on the walk. My work chums pitched in and Graham was on the team. Lastly I said if I raised £400 I would wear the flashing bunny ears. Friends, family and old school chums didn't let me down and the picture shows what I looked like as i set off on my very first sponsored walk.
I was terrified, I didn't know how far 5 miles looked like, could I walk that far? How would I explain if I couldn't make it? Anyway. I met up with Bionic-Woman (had a new knee and a new wrist) and she and I walked the 5 miles. It was hard going for the last little bit and i have a decent sized blister on the ball of my foot which gave my gyp, but I did it. I walk 5 miles in 1 hour 30 minutes and felt a huge sense of achievement. (Mr Fink went to bed early as he had a Father's Day golf game in the morning) so The Glums had kindly offered to 'pick me up' and take me home. I shared my triumph with them and went home to bed.
Just one thing makes me wonder - I wonder what people would have asked me to do for £1000?

Fink Family Revels - Mark I

We had more than 50 friends and family at the first Fink Summer Revels. We had people travel from far and near, Carlisle, Cambridge, Leeds, Hastings, Basingstoke and some from just round the corner. Bambi showed his will to beat Mr Fink in any type of competition by sporting his, "secret weapon" a T-shirt designed to strike fear and respect into Mr Fink's heart! We had picnics, football games, skittles and even a primus stove boiling up water for tea!

We had two huge games of rounders, lots of good natured barracking, distraction, dissent, great batting and fielding. There were some heroic catches and terrific glory shots.

Everyone had a terrific time, chatting, catching up and seeing the babies and young people was a real treat. Thank you Mr Fink for bringing us all together again. Hopefully we'll do it all again soon.

1. Open mouth, 2. Insert foot

Mr Chips and Billie are at the vets, they are being treated to prevent flystrike - a very horrible thing to happen to a rabbit. I check Mr Chips morning and night in the summer. Last year I checked him in the morning, he was fine -in the afternoon, he had fly eggs in the fur round by his bottom. (see "Fingers Crossed" separate blog for the full story). So to prevent all this unpleasentness I put Mr Chips in one box and tricked Billie into the other one. (She has the right name as she was furious to be in the box - Billie Fury???!) She was stamping in the box so hard it shook. i took them to the vet recommended by Agatha (rabbit rescuer) and they (the people at the surgery) were lovely. Mr Chips is to have a lump removed from his side, have a Myxy jab and be treated against flystrike (last year this involved having his bum and tail shaved and goo painted on his bottom - very undignified). Billie will have the Flystrike treatment and have the matted fur on her bib removed - this is from all her digging and having the shortest front legs known to man/rabbit which means she cant clean it properly! They are being kept in overnight so they can have the treatments after Mr Chips' operation.

Mr Fink was talking to his Big Sis on the phone (also a rabbit owner) and describing the flystrike preventative treatment. "The vet shaves their bums and paints it with goo," he explained. "You can get your hubby done for free, Mr Fink is booked in for next week!" I chirped in humorously. (I thought). Big Sis said something to Mr Fink, he relayed, "Do you have the HDVBG (or similar) as well?" I thought we were still talking about hair removal so I said, "What's that? A back, sack and crack wax?" They both heard me and a horrified husband said to his sister, "You're alright, I have to live with her." (She had been talking about another vaccination you can get for rabbits." Oh bruther!

Beefeaters and Security Issues

As Mr Fink and I were dropping Little Fink off at Nannies, Shouty Grandad was regaling us with tales from when I was younger. He recounted the tale of a family outing to the Tower of London. Shouty Grandad, Nanny and me (aged about 3-4 I should think and my cousin and her mum and dad had been for a picnic in one of the parks, all home made stuff, cheese, ham, eggs etc then we went for a tour of the Tower. As the party were stopped by the security Beefeater who took Shouty Grandad's bag to search it, the Beefeater plunged his hand in and had a good old rummage around before Shouty Grandad shouted at him to stop and pull out his hand, which the Beefeater did and asked for an explanation. Quoth Shouty Grandad, "You don't want to be putting your hand in there like that, there's a bloody big knife in the bottom of that bag." Hilarity ensues, more Beefeaters arrive, hurried explanations of picnic etc etc!

It must run in the family because when I went to the Tower of London a couple of years ago with Nanny and Little Fink, she was only little, walking, but we took the buggy just in case, we were going into one of the towers and I decided not to take the buggy up the narrow stairs. Being the resourceful mum that I am, I'd brought along a small chain and padlock to secure the buggy if need be. I chained the buggy to the rail at the bottom of the stairs, out of every one's way. We went up into the Tower , enjoyed the sights and came back down again, only to find a Beefeater standing over my chained up buggy. "Is this your pram?" says he. "Yes it is, is there a problem?"Says I. "Yes, it's a bomb threat." says the Beefeater. I come back with, "It's not a bomb threat, it's a BUGGY!" hilarity ensues, more Beefeaters arrive, hurries explanations of lazy parent not carrying buggy everywhere etc etc.

Happy Nyew Nyear to everyone

May I wish you all a Happy New Year and hex you all with the best of health and the most happiness for the coming 12 months.

New Year's Eve was a very quiet affair, Mr Fink and I alone in the house (Little Fink had gone to The Glum's for a sleep over) watching Jools' Hootenanny, in bed by 1am. Our 'event' is the yearly trip to the seaside.

Jan the first and up early to collect Nanny (Shouty Grandad didn't want to come - he is still recovering from the shoulder op he had this week) and thus to The Glum's. Off we go in convoy for 2 hours to Brightlingsea, a place that Nanny, Shouty Grandad, Little Fink and I had enjoyed last year.

It was very cold and there was not much beach, the chip shop was closed and I lost the will to live with all the complaints about my choice of venue and had a good old sulk.

Then Little Fink, Nanny, Bambino, Bambi and I had an impromptu game of foosball (a combination for netball/football and wrestling!) which soon got me out of my strop.

The consensus was for us to go to Clacton where it's more populated and we have been before. We had a lovely couple of hours there with fish and chips - why does Bambi take photo's of his food? Beach combing, metal detecting - still no gold - and a trip to the pier and arcades, where Bambino and I searched for the 'ugliest doll' offered as a prize - there were some horrors! (Watch out for pics in the coming weeks).

On the way back we (Finks and Nanny) checked out St Osyth's, which had been recommended to me by a couple of people at work. The village looked lovely, in the dark!, but as we followed the signs and Sat Nav to the beach, we were guided through a caravan park. The clientele of the park must have been an 'interested' bunch as on one parade of shops there was, on the end - a bookmakers, next to that a tattoo shop and next to that an off licence - on a camp site????

We headed home, Little Fink and I fell asleep and Mr Fink's cold returned with a vengeance.

We start the New Year, happy, optimistic and full of bogeys!

(Oh, and it's been a year since I had a fag! Yay me!)

That which doesn't kill us, makes us stronger. No?

Poor Little Fink, bunged up, sniffing, sneezing, coughing.

"what can I do to help her feel more comfortable?" I thought. "I know, I'll put some Vick's on her chest to help clear her blockages."

So I usher the snot laden child to the bathroom, lift up her jammy top and slather the Vicks all over her chest.

A short while later, she is at the coffee table with her laptop and I note the improvement in her breathing.

"Mummy." she says, little face screwed up against the vapour,

 "I can't see." Ah bless.

Mr Fink now has the dreaded lurgy and was unable to attend the first celebration in the annual calendar of Christmas. Last night it was the gathering of the Fink clan at GWTBO house, this consisted of take away, jokes, fun, babies, Death by Pictionary (terrible amount of cheating from SOME people. One person who will remain nameless, shamelessly whispering "Think Paris" as a clue to the word Eiffel Tower. Shame on you) and lots and lots of laughter.

My favourite comments of the night were....Woogie talking about a hirsute GWTBO, "Grandad wasn't born, he was knitted!" and Blitzen (Doner's girlfriend) when playing Pictionary trying to guess a US President, "Is it John Bush?" (But she more than made up for not knowing him name with her enthusiasm and air punches when her team were doing well!

The babies were beautiful and full of beans and everyone had a brilliant time. Thank you.

Half Term in the Western Lakes of Cumbria

Wastwater looking towards Wasdale Head with Yewbarrow, Great Gable and Lingmell (Sca Fell and Sca Fell Pike are hidden behind Lingmell).

What a week! Let's go away for half term I said. What about Cumbria Big Mac said. I've got a caravan you can stay in, Aunty Joan said. And so begins such adventures! You've got to be spontaneous - otherwise what is the point?

Saturday

Little Fink and I wave bye bye to Mr Fink and pick up Big Mac (watch this space for a name update in the future?!) and AbuDhabi, along with the fourteen blankets, twelve bags and assorted Tupperware. We head North through broken bridges on the M6 and terrible rain, the like of which I haven't seen in years. Big Mac and I play a modified version of the Yellow Car Game (due to my 'flu jab', I can't be punched all the way to Cumbria!). Every time a yellow car comes into view, Big Mac and I squawk, "KA" in the stylee of Micheal Palin's 'Ken' in a "Fish Called Wanda" with his hands tied and chips up his nose. The standing water on the motorway was dreadful and the rain and spray was everywhere. We made it off the M6 (J36) onto the A590. the rain was still bombing down and the wind must have been gale force (found out later that it was the worst October weather in living memory. 1000 fell runners and hikers were starting a 2-day, 2-marathon hike across the fells as we were travelling, 700 of them went missing on the fells overnight due to the terrible weather). As we passed the Lakeland and Haverthwaite Railway, there is a short length of dual carriage way, I got into position to overtake a slower moving vehicle and started to accelerate past. (Big Mac was texting on her phone) BLAM I hit a massive puddle of water, it hit the windscreen and made the wipers stand still. Big Mac looked up from her phone, saw a wall of water only previously seen on the log flume at Chessington and swore. (Boy, can she swear). It seemed like 2-3 minutes before the wipers kicked in and we realised we weren't dead. Everything was where it was before we hit the water and life continued. Big Mac was a little shaken but only for a short time. We arrived in Haverigg about 6 hours (280 miles) after we set off. We saw Aunty Joan (static caravan owner) and Aunty Mary and various other Fink rellies. We settled in and I buggered off to a family party that was being held in the next village. the weather was still totally terrible and I stayed till 11.30pm - my dad (shouty granddad) was there and was very embarrassed to buy me a drink when I kept asking for a mug of tea!

Sunday

Went out for a bit of an explore, the rain had stopped but the wind was unbelievable, so strong. We walked along Haverigg beach towards Silecroft, it felt wonderful to be out in the sea air, we saw some cocklers then went for a walk along the sea wall. We got about a third of the way along then the kids moaned like hell so we came back! After lunch we drove out to Silecroft beach, just up the coast. The wind was so strong that it could turn your eyelids inside out! We got there just in time to see shire horses and Clydesdales being ridden through the surf and up the beach towards us. I was beside myself - so powerful - so majestic. Beautiful. Against the backdrop of the fells they looked stunning. (brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat.)

Monday

We went to Wastwater. Oh wow, how beautiful. So many colours. After numerous photos we drove to the end of the lake, stopping only for Big Mac to harangue a local National Trust chap to find out where he had hidden Sca Fell and Sca Fell Pike, we popped into the Wasdale Head Inn, home of the 'Biggest Liar' competition. Wasdale is known for "The highest mountain, (Sca Fell Pike), the deepest lake, (Wastwater), the smallest church, (St Olaf's at the foot of the fell) and the biggest liar (competition at the pub). after our repast we went for a walk, we were looking for a waterfall for Big Mac to photograph. We made our way through a farm and over some boggy ground towards a raging river (Lingmell Beck). As we approached the bridge, Big Mac said, "Oh dear, that sheep appears to be caught in the fence." Famous last words. Understatement of the year.

I looked up the steep fell and saw in the distance a greyish white blog standing close to a wire fence half-way up a mountain. "It will be fine, come on, let's find this waterfall." I said.

"We can't leave it up there, I'll phone the farmer." Anyway. We have the two things you need to alert the farmer that his sheep is stuck, the number and a signal, so up the fell we went.

We asked the children to wait at the bottom, in case the sheep was in a bad way and it upset them. (No matter that it was upsetting me though!) We got up there on adrenaline. I broke 2 nails just trying to push the sheep back up the fell to relieve the pressure on it's garroted leg. It had tried to jump the wire fence and it's back leg had caught the top wire, twisted it over the top with it's hoof and become snared. The harder it pulled, the faster it was caught. Big Mac and I swapped places, she pushed (it was like having a baby all over again) and I squeezed the wire. Eventually she pushed it's hoof through the wire and it was free. we let it go and it hobbled across the fell on three legs. I recon it must have had the worst case of pins and needles in the world! Anyhoo, we named the ungrateful sheep Nelson (in honour of Nelson Mandela who was also freed) and addressed the fright of just how high and steep we were. The kids were obviously concerned for our welfare as they 'spelunked' rocks into the river with worry! NOT. We made it down slowly and without incident. We continued out search for the waterfall - found it! and headed back. then I slipped on a rock and fell in a bog. Bugger. Sore right shin, no permanent damage - that will bruise up nicely and I'll have a war wound to show - i thought).

Tuesday

Big mac and i woke with matching aches and pains, damn you Nelson!

I smelled a funny smell in the sitting room area and realised the rug had travelled too near the gas fire. Big mac and I pulled it back. I checked the hot bit of the rug for damage....then ran into the kitchen screaming...the carpet had melted onto my fingers. what a way to wake up. No lasting damage, thankfully. (still no bruise on my leg either). We went up Corney Fell to see Nanny (metal detecting) and Shouty Granddad (digging holes) at Aunty Una's house. we also saw Aunty Hannah (collecting twigs for a Halloween broomstick) while we were there!

Later we walked along Haverigg beach to watch the sunset, then Big Mac realised we were standing on a dark beach at night, with no torches! Doh.

Wednesday

We visited the Ravenglass narrow gauge railway also know locally as Lal Ratty, which runs to Eskdale. We then decided to head to Coniston. the most direct route would have been over Hardknott Pass and Wrynose Pass (the steepest roads in Britain) which I declined to travel due to lack of fuel, freezing temperatures and mist on the fells. We took the A roads and arrived in one piece. Consiton was beautiful, shame it was a little misty and wet. We checked out Hawkshead and Tarn Haws - again beautiful colours.

Thursday

We tidied up the van, had a mooch round Millom and looked forward to coming home to our loved ones who had been enjoying snow while we were away!

Friday

We drove home via the butchers at Bootle (Big Mac bought 5 feet of sausage) and the pie shop at Millom (I bought 4 meat and tater pies YUM). It took about 7 hours and we were shattered!

A brilliant time had by all with lots of adventures. Thank you Big Mac, AbuDhabi and Little Fink - I had a ball.

I L.M.A.O.

Shouty Grandad made me laugh on Saturday night. I dropped Little Fink off at his house for a sleep over. As I was leaving, she ran into the front bedroom of the bungalow, climbed up the radiator, onto the windowsill, opened the little top window and was shouting, "Goodbye".

As i was getting into my car, Shouty grandad stopped looking at Little Fink climbing all over the windowsill, turned to me and shouted,

"Oi Missis, you've forgotten your monkey!"

The Quiet Life

Little Fink is off with Nanny and Shouty Grandad in the Camper. She has been given a mobile phone to keep in contact - I knew i should have taken shares in Virginmobile! All is quiet here, I'm getting loads done and having a good clear out. Freecycle is a god send for getting rid of stuff you don't want, cant be bothered to sell but don't want to put in the bin.

The rabbits are fine - i think they are going to be ok, they are sitting together but not at the grooming stage, Mr Chips is still trying to mount Billie all the time but she is now declining his attempts and runs off, she is not aggressive but not putting up with any of his nonsense either! My bunny mentor, Agatha tells me this is a healthy sign and is just Mr Chips showing his dominance and Billie showing her submissiveness. All good there then. The next step is getting her to tolerate my presence. I think I may have to sit in the run for an hour or something!

I've been uploading our family snaps onto Flickr while I have some free time. I've done 2000, 2001 and 2002! Isn't it lovely to look back to when the children were little? So sweet.

I think I'll go to the gym again today. Just need to work out a program of exercise - cant find anything detailed enough on the web?? I've cracked smoking, I've cracked drinking, now for the weight loss. Look out gym, here I come.

Whirlwind

Rowan Atkinson in a sketch from The Secret Policeman's Ball where he and Peter Cook are doomsdayers discussing the end of the world. Rowan says, "Will this wind, be so mighty, as to lay low, the mountains of the earth? (All will become clear as to why this is relevant in a mo!)

Alright campers, all back on Terra firma. The Fink family had a great time with great friends. The weather was patchy, ranging from beautiful sunshine (4 days in total) to gale force storms (5 days and nights one after the other!), the rest was grey and overcast. The winds were so mighty as to lay low a lot of the tents and awnings. Many campers packed up and went home but our little group battled it out with the help of industrial size tent pegs and the Glums' awning (we sheltered in there for warmth and company during the worst of the weather).

Dorset was beautiful, lovely sunsets and big skies. Weymouth beach as always a pleasure. Mr Glum earned a new nickname from Ched and Doris, he is forthwith to be known as "Bambi", because he is long legged and accident prone, like the young Bambi - very apt. The Big yellow Bambiboat made its inaugural sailing at Weymouth, which was great because Mr Fink and I didn't think it was going to arrive at all on the top of the Glumbus, secured to an inflateable roof rack (I kid you not). You should have seen the Glumbus going down the road at 50mph with a 15ft inflateable yellow canoe strapped to the top of it! So funny. We all had a turn in the Bambiboat and it was good fun, especially when ALL six of the children got in!

The children where a delight and so funny, well behaved (in the main) but terrible at washing up! I have a terrific video, which I will treasure, of Stinky wrestling with her brother Slash on the ground, when I ask her what she is doing, she looks up in mid scramble and says, "I'm trying to kiss my big brother." He howls, claims to need the toilet and runs off. In the next film, Little Fink is wrestling Bambino (Son of Bambi, aka Goober), I ask her what she is doing, she replies, "Trying to kiss Marsha's big brother!" She fails and resorts to giving him a noogie instead!

LMI's mum and dad - Pisky (she is Cornish and looks like a Pixie) and Homer were good fun and helpful too, when Doris's tent canopy needed zipping up she needed someone really tall to help, Bambi wasn't available so Mr Fink and Pisky joined forces and with her on his shoulders, reached up and did up the zip! Mad. Homer and Mr fink went on a 9am bike ride to Abbotsbury that wiped them out for a good couple of hours after. They vowed to go again the next day but chickened out when the time came, claiming sore botties!

Big Mac and Abu Dhabi were great fun too, Big Mac kept Mr Fink entertained on trips to Lulworth and Chesil Beach, she is so funny, had me in hysterics more than once! Especially with her shrimp impression! You go girl!

The campsite was lovely, well kept, clean and tidy. When the winds were at their worst, the staff were patrolling the fields and fixing or tying down damaged tents while the owners were away, so caring - All hail the staff at East Fleet Farm Touring Park, 10/10 from The Fink. Might see you next year!

Hooray, Hooray, its a holi holi day

I am writing this with 20 hours to go until we set off to holiday, when you read this, we should be on our way or there! Joining us on our camping trip to Weymouth are,

LMI and her parents and 2 dogs Bart and Izzy;
Ched, Doris and my niece and nephew Slash and Stinky;
Mr & Mrs Glum, Marsha, Goober and Pongo.
Abu Dhabi and BigMac.

Many moons ago when Mr Fink bought his new car, he promised me faithfully that all the gear would fit into it, last night as we started to pile the kit up in the dining room at Fink Manor he started to look a bit shifty and scared. The morning will tell.

What's the weather going to be like?

I've been checking the weather carefully for the last couple of days. The Fink family and Mrs Cub-share's son, J1 are off to Cub camp at Thriftwood in Essex this weekend and, if you are a regular reader, you will know how much fun camp is in the rain.

Last night on the TV weather I heard the vaguest most sit-on-the-fence report I have ever heard..

"This weekend half the people in the south-East have a 50% chance of getting wet."

Well that just about covers everything and I'm none the wiser!

Oh what a night.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR FINK!!

and a big thank you to all those that accepted our birthday party challenge of turning up in the loudest shirt! There were 2 prizes, one went to Mr Emm (Mrs Emm also made a valiant effort) seen here on the left and the other went to Marsha who spent all morning designing and colouring in her own 'Owl & the pussycat' shirt.

We had a wonderful time with family and friends surrounding and supporting us. we couldn't be happier than when in the bosom of our clan!

All hail to the chili, lemon drizzle cake, samosa, salmon sandwich, smoked trout, birthday cake, quiche, beer, wine providing lot of you, we couldn't have done it with out you and would not have wanted to. A big thank you to Ched and Doris for all their help and for providing the weather!

Mr Fink is now 40 and getting Wii Fit! he also wants to thank everyone for his gifts - he wasn't expecting any and loved every one!

I'm off now to give him a thrashing at cow racing and tennis. xxxxx

A New Arrival - Countdown

In about 3 weeks the Fink family is due to expand by one.
Watch this space......

A Bit of a Do.

This weekend, Mr Fink, Little Fink and I travelled to Hastings for a gathering of the clans. Mr Fink's brother was getting married. This brought about another addition to the number of women in the country with the same name as me. There are now 5 Mrs *****'s! 3 of whom stayed in the same Travelodge for the wedding, hence the following confusing phone call from GWTBO - father of the groom. As we were travelling past Battle en route to Hastings, Mr Fink's phone rang, it was Grandad With The Beard On,

"Where are you staying?"

Me (as Mr Fink was driving)"Travelodge, Hastings."

"What name have you booked the room under?"

Me.............................."?", "I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count!"

Anyway, it turns out he was only aware of 3 rooms booked under the family name, his room, Woogie & Nancypants' room and Doner (Woogie's brother - he has been given the 'nom de guerre' Doner as they both look rough on a Sunday morning) &AB's room.

"I booked the family room for us." I said.

"Oh, I'm standing in the family room, drinking the coffee!"

Anyway, the rooms were sorted, I asked for some bed linen for Little Fink and a duvet cover and pillow cases for our bed, as they only had white cotton 'protector's on, when the lady arrived she only had linen for Little Fink.

"I was hoping for a duvet cover and pillowcases for the bed."

"You've already got them, we only have the cheap ones here!" Ho hum.

We went off to the wedding, the groom was nervous and the bride stunning. I was fine until the Bride started to say her vows, her voice wobbled with emotion and that was it, all the women in the room were toast! The reception was lovely with children enjoying themselves, lovely food and good company.

I jitterbugged the night away with my father-in-law, GWTBO and a good night was had by all.

The next day we had breakfast and arranged to take the Silver Surfer (Mr Fink's step dad) and Astral (Mr Fink's mum) home with us, so we quickly had a walk along the sea front at Hastings before setting off. We decided to stop off for lunch and went to the Airfield Pub in Hatfield.

The meal was well received and the bill duly arrived. Now I don't know about you gentle reader, but us Finks are plagued (in a good way) with friends who won't take no for an answer! Mr Fink was going to pay for this meal as a parting gift to Astral and SS before they returned to Spain.

SS offered to pay but Mr Fink said,

"It's ok, I'll pay, it's not very expensive." he might as well have said...

"Next time we go out you can pay and we'll go somewhere NICE!" good ole Mr Fink always got at least one of his feet in his mouth!

A wonderful weekend, spent with wonderful family and friends. The stuff of life. Bring it on.

Another brilliant idea

It's a piece of kake...

I have a brilliant idea for the military. Forget all these new designs for stealth bombers with angled surfaces to deflect and reflect radar. The army should just make their tanks out of the same stuff that toilet roll skeletons are made of. you know, the cardboard tube inside the roll.

Once these rolls have lost their covering of toilet paper, they become invisible to 2/3's of the population - at least in our house anyway.

In the past, i have set up experiments with these tubes. I have left them on the side in the bathroom to see how many will gather before they become visible to the other members of my family. Go on guess. 2? 3?....

7 SEVEN!!! and even then they were not spotted. I could not bear it any more and I removed them to the bin.

If the army don't want to paint their tanks in toilet roll tubes, they could alternatively use...black socks, children's shoes or anything belonging to Little Fink. It appears that I am the only one that can see these items once they have left the hand of their owner.

PS - To all the army bods looking for spies, I am obviously a great candidate for enemy spotting as I have this uncanny ability to see things others can not. Call me.

Crossed lines of communication

I think I must be reaching 'that age'.

Observe - Mr Fink and I were watching 'Grumpy Old Men', Rick Wakeman came on, moaning about something or other.

I said to Mr Fink, "He's doing an evening with Rick Wakeman in St Albans soon, I thought about getting tickets."

Mr Fink, "Who?"

Me, "Rick Wakeman of course, you donkey."

Mr Fink, "I didn't know, Arthur Smith was on the telly at the time, i thought you meant they were doing it together - get your facts right before you have a go at me!"

Oops.

Changing the subject, we had a super weekend - Mr Fink's cold permitting. We had dinner with Shouty Grandad and nanny, then took them up the field for a bit of metal detecting (Nanny found 1p), bike riding (Little Fink) and rounders (Shouty Grandad couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo, Mr Fink and I did ok and Little Fink improved greatly). A glorious day with blue skies, sunshine and shorts - which of course Shouty Grandad blames our colds on because we shouldn't "cast ne'er a clout til May is out" Yes Grandad and I suppose we caught the virus through our exposed knees did we?

Easy does it

Another week over and closer to holidays, sunshine and time with friends and family. For the first time in weeks it has been remarkably quiet. I say quiet - here's some of the 'events' we've lived through these last few days.

Little Fink had a swimming lesson, the other two did not turn up so she had the instructor to herself. He decided she was ready to tackle 'butterfly' stroke, Oh proud mum. Even he gave me the thumbs up at her efforts. What a star she is and a big pat on the back to 'L', her teacher. Top chap.

We heard that Mr Fink's mum (who normally lives in Spain) got the 'all clear' after suffering from jaundice, she had a blockage in her Gall Bladder, hence her pseudonym, 'Asterix, Asterix the Gaul!' The blockage was removed in an efficient and timely manner by the local NHS Trust. Her husband 'The Silver Surfer' had vowed to by a bottle of scotch and down the lot if the news was bad, was spared that and only had a few glasses in celebration instead. Hooray.

We heard the news of a new Fink being born on Friday. Mr Fink's sister's, daughter had a baby boy - doubtless he will be named here in time, but for the moment will be CJ. Congrats to you all.

Cam's (Mr Fink's niece) birthday on Monday.

Little Fink's friend, Loo, was brave and managed a sleep over at our house. The little darlings stayed awake till 11.30 and got up at half past six. But I'm not complaining, they were as good as gold. Well done Loo.

Mr and Mrs Fogg had a BBQ, the first for the season - you get the medal, but I had my shorts on on Saturday, so I (and the people that had to see me) should get a prize too.

Mr Fink has only 2 computers to fix - with 2 pending from Steve the Plumber - don't worry Steve, we charge the same reasonable rates as you do!

I have done the washing, ironing and sewing repairs and am feeling at one with the world.

Aren't family and friends wonderful things?