Elderflower Cordial

Flowers grouped in 'saucers' or 'umbrels'

Trees can be large or just bushes

Lovely sweet fragrant Elderflowers

Horrible stinky cat-wee smelling flowers - Gack!

Saturday is supposed to be bright and sunny - perfect for gathering elderflowers for cordial, that which even I as a hardened anti-cook, can make.

Give it a try it's really easy and very satisfying.

you'll need, 

• 30 umbrels/heads of elderflowers - not the stinky ones and not ones from near a road (petrol fumes pooh!)
• 1k granulated sugar
• 1.5l boiling water
• 4 medium lemons
• 55g citric acid - if you haven't got this, use 2 more lemons or 2 oranges.

• Place the sugar into a large saucepan/stockpot or a large Pyrex bowl. Pour the boiling water over and stir until all the sugar has dissolved and leave to cool.
• Grate the rind of the lemons/oranges with a fine grater, add to the sugar water.
• Slice the lemons/oranges into thick slices and add to the water. Add the citric acid (if you have it) and stir, then finally add the flower heads to the water and stir again.
• Cover with a clean cloth and leave to steep for 48 hours.
• Remove the larger bits of stalk/fruit and strain the rest through clean fine muslin cloth or a clean tea-towel into a clean bowl. I lay the cloth over the empty bowl, tie string round the rim to keep it in place
• Using a funnel, fill sterilized bottles. Seal and store in a cool, dark place (not the refrigerator).

The cordial is delicious diluted with still or fizzy water or used as a flavoring in ice creams or in fruit fools.
Once a bottle is opened store in the refrigerator.

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.

It's only a little snow!

Have you looked out of the window? What a pain! 4 inches in the last 2 hours. Yesterday I was at work when it started at 10.30am, I received a call from the school at 11.45am, they were closing the school to make sure the teachers could get home. Lightweights!
I left me office, armed with homework, and made for my car. I think I would have been able to get it out of the Consultants car park which slopes at about 15 degrees. The problem was, the hill the hospital is built on was gridlocked with vehicles. Not moving unless they were sliding. I didn't even switch the engine on, locked up and set off walking the mile to the school. As I crested the third and final hill, one hour later my phone rang. It was the school secretary, "Are you coming to pick Little Fink up?" I was incensed, unfortunately due to my lack of breath and pounding chest I couldn't say exactly what I felt - only to reassure her I was tramping through the snow to be there. What a c*w!

Anyway, my girlfriends and I had planned a Strikly Come Dancing Final 'Girls' Night In" tonight but the weather seems like it might have put paid to that. Also the weather has prevented the Asdaman from visiting with my shopping too. Grrr.

Perfect, now the cat has just been sick on the carpet. Joy to the world and goodwill to all men? Bah Humbug!
;o)

Snow in Finkle Finkstead

Yes it snowed.

Mr Fink and Little fink were jumping up and down while it was falling. In the morning Little Fink almost went out in the snow with her pyjamas on! The school was closed so LaraCroft kindly took Little fink while I headed off in Laura across the 8 inches of snow! We made it almost to work (which is on a steep hill) and all the way home with no drama, it wasn't until I tried to put her back in the garage that i got stuck. However, I learned a trick from Ray Mears, I took out the car mats, placed them under the wheels and Presto, we were unstuck. Thanks Ray.

As I walked up the steep hill to work this morning, I caught up with one of my colleagues whose physical condition causes her to walk with 2 sticks and a rolling gait. She was more than two thirds of the way up the hill when I caught up with her. I jokingly said, "Alright Zoe, you been out skiing?" As she turned to reply, she lost her footing and slid to the ground. I caught her and helped her up. "You were doing OK before I turned up weren't you?" I said. She was very gracious and saw the funny side. However after an hour or so one of the girls from my department stopped me and said, "I hear you've been pushing disabled people over in the snow."

Oh dear!

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!)

Brr, it's chilly in 'ere

I work in the local hospital. The heating is not due to be put on until the 15th October. Last week the medical secretaries that type up your test results, were doing so in their coats with fingerless gloves on, it was THAT cold in our part of the hospital.

Today, I thought ahead and put my woolly trousers , a thick T-shirt and my camping jumper on. I was not going to be cold!

I arrived at work to find my boss sitting in her office with her coat on! I walked across the road to the supermarket to see if they sold hot water bottles. Seriously, I did. (They don't).

At about 11am, the heating came on! Yay. Everything warmed up nicely. The only problem was, this morning when I put my thick T-shirt on, I noticed it had a bleach stain on the front. "It won't matter," I thought, "I won't be taking my jumper off."

I was roasted all afternoon! (I'm not complaining honestly!)

Goodbye, cruel world.

Right, this could be the 'last post'.

We are off camping in Cornwall. The weather reports have been terrible over the last few days and for the next few days to come.

We are stoical about it and going anyway!

The only problem is....

We can't find the green string. Everyone knows you should always have string when you are camping. Shouty Grandad calls it 'Farmers Friend@ Go figure????

See you in a week, be good. xxx

Look out Cornwall, here we come

Next week, Big Mac, AbuDhabi, Mr Fink, Little Fink, LMI, Pisky and Mr Pisky will be in Cornwall for our annual week of fun in the sun. Did I say sun? Silly me, last year we had 70mph winds, bent tent poles and abandoned tents all around us.

I've checked the weather report and it says there will be rain and showers with the possibility of GALES.

OH COME ON, GIVE ME A BREAK!

Also, I was checking the local news. See the picture, do you know what it is? It's a Portuguese Man Of War. A stinging jellyfish type thing. Some were found 20 miles from where we will be staying, on Monday. Luckily, next week when we are there, it will be so flipping cold, none of will be going any where NEAR the sea!!!

Dirty

Little Fink and I have been off school/work 4 days out of 5 last week. Mainly due to the school staff - already low on numbers - not being able to get into work from their distant homes. We had a lovely week, enjoying Mr Fink's company on a couple of occasions, when we all went out in the snow and sledged/sledded, snowballed, snowmanned and iglooed.

Mr Fink joined the ranks of the hundreds of other fathers that do not routinely slide down hills on their bottoms, when he woke up suffering from lower back twinges - "Ooh me coccyx!" he groaned, at least that's what I THINK he said?

Big Mac and AbuDhabi came round on Thursday as their school was also closed due to inclement weather. You know when you've been a slob and not done any housework when your good friend looks at your dark wood sideboard and says, "I'm glad you don't take dusting too seriously either."

I'm not house proud but it strikes a nerve when your household cleanliness is so bad your pals see it as an opportunity for humour.

So, now that it is Sunday, a mere 3 days after the comment, I feel bad enough about it to get the fluffy duster out!

Stand by your beds for inspection - if it don't move, clean it, if it does move, chuck it in the bath!

Praying DOES work! It snowed didn't it?

Don't you think Mr Fink looks like "Where's Wally"?

I 'borrowed' the idea from another blogger, you push your face into new snow (like on the bonnet of a car) then take a pic. you can play with the contrast and brightness when you get back home.

The snow came, I didn't think it would but it did. We've been over the field sledging from 9.15 - 11am with J1 and his friends and family. Little Fink was out in it while the rest of us were phoning our work places to say we wouldn't be in - at about 7.30am!

Needless to say the school is closed and Mr Fink is at home. The snow is still coming down - SMASHING a real treat.

Steve the Plumber saves the day

So the heating has been on since....the first day of Summer. I just had my best mate who moved to Oz over to stay, she was freezing so i turned the heating up. I didn't realise until she had gone back down under - the radiator in her bedroom wasn't working.

You may recall the 'interesting' time we had when the central heating was updated. (see previous blog).

Well, I went to the new radiator, easily bled it, ran a couple of bottles of water off, still no hot water. tried again the next day and the next day. Nothing.

Mr Fink called Steve the Plumber - Steve managed to fit us in tonight. I got home after the shop to find the two men in the kitchen drinking tea.

"Thank you so much Steve, I'm sorry to have called you out, I tried everything I could to fix it but I can't get the water to come through hot. How did you fix it? "

"That's ok, the valve was stuck, I just hit it with the pliers and it worked!"

DOH

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.

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!

Fingers Crossed

This is Billie, say hello to Billie, she was left in a box on a rabbit owners doorstep in a nearby town. Billie will be coming to join the Fink family after our holiday. I'll be trying to introduce her to Mr Chips over the 3 weeks of the Summer Hols. "How did this come about?" I hear you ask.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeell. As you know, after the Blue Cross fiasco of finding a friend for Mr Chips I kept looking through the Tinternet and came across Agatha's Annex. A lady who lives not far from me who has been rescuing rabbits for a number of years. I contacted her, visited her and had a lovely afternoon surrounded by bunnies and guinea pigs. Agatha even showed me how to groom Mr Chips. what a lovely lady (and her hubby too!). Unfortunately circumstances were such that there mere no suitable companions available for Mr Chips there.

The next evening as i was doing my usual 'bum-check' on RabbitFink, I found fly eggs, the first stage of Flystrike' which is a serious/fatal disease for rabbits, where a fly is attracted to a rabbit because it is dirty for whatever reason and lays its eggs on the rabbit, near its behind, after as little as 12 hours, the eggs hatch and the infant maggots start eating the rabbit. Needless to say it is a distressing and terrible death for a rabbit. I have always prided myself on the fact that my rabbit was clean and well cared for, so it just goes to show, it can happen to anyone. With the help of Mr Fink, I removed all the eggs, cutting away some of Mr Chips' fur to make sure they were all gone. Mr Fink phoned our vet and was told the fee would be £105 as it was after hours - that was just to open the doors, we would have to pay the consultation fee etc. on top. Well, I was certain Mr Chips was now out of danger, so I left the visit till the morning. the vet kept Mr chips in, shaved his tail and bum (the rabbit's, not the vet's) and painted him with a medicine called, "Rearguard" to protect him from flystrike for the next 8 weeks. All to the tune of £80. Now you know me, I love my animals but why do I always feel ripped off by this Vets? On the itemised bill it showed the medicine cost £15. That's why.

Rant over.

The lady who has Billie contacted Agatha to try and find Billie a home as Billie doesn't get on with her 2 rabbits (they have the most beautiful Beagle there too - i fell in love with him!), so Agatha told me about her.

So cross your fingers that Billie and Mr Chips like each other!!

There will be no posts for 2 weeks as I am on holiday in Weymouth. Do you remember, years ago when the daily newspapers used to offer a £5 prize to anyone who could quote the phrase of the day to Chalky White carrying the newspaper? (The Sun or The Mirror I think). Well, if you spot me, Mrs Fink, in the next 2 weeks, and you say, "My word Mrs Fink, you are looking slim and gorgeous." I will reward you with a big smile and a firm handshake!

No rain dances now - we're camping!

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

Oh I Do Like To Be beside The Seaside...

This is Hemsby beach, near Great Yarmouth.

Mr Fink and I spent many happy holidays here in the years prior to Little Fink's arrival!

This weekend, in true 'grab the weekend by the throat and shake it til you have fun' stylee, Mr Fink took myself and Little Fink to the seaside. It is only 3 hours away but it took us 5 because we couldn't decide on a B&B we liked (I thought the landladies were taking one look at my figure in shorts and deciding their guesthouses were full, but Mr fink said it wasn't so!) they were either too run down, too remote, too expensive or in some one's house (I'd feel weird just wandering in and out) or in pubs which looked 'lively'. In the end we plumped for a respectable hotel in Gt Yarmouth that Little fink loved (she had bunk beds and a TV in her room!). It was very reasonable and I would recommend 'Sunnydene, North Dene's Road, Gt Yarmouth' any day.

We dumped our gear, went to Little California (near Caister), it was about 7pm by this time, bought fish and chips and sat on the rocks looking out to sea eating our supper. It was very misty and the lady in the chip shop said it had been so for 2-3 days, so bad that the guys working on the oil rigs had been unable to take off in the helicopter transports to get them to the rigs, for days. Ho hum, had we travelled all this way and spent 5 hours in the car for misty seascapes? The morning would tell.

Sunday morning woke us with bright sunshine and the smell of the sea. We had our breakfast and set off. We found our spot under the sand dunes, characteristic 'breeze' blowing across the sand and enjoyed 6 hours of beach fun, sun and sand. Little Fink and Mr Fink built volcanoes, pits, castles, rock sculptures and buries each other in the sand. The sea was too cold for swimming but the view was superb.

Thank you for a super day Mr Fink and I hope the sunburn on the backs of your legs subsides quickly!

Sad/Glad to be home

Well I'm home and recovering. the short time I spent at camp was so much fun that I wish I were still there, but know I wouldn't have been comfortable.
SATURDAY - Set off for camp - I had my bus swapped at the last moment as one of the mini buses didn't have an 'adult' in the back. (The driver and co-driver concentrate solely on the road). It was brilliant, I was in with Johnny, Ollie, Fowler and assorted other Cubs and Scouts. Top fun, they have such a good sense of humour, observation and knowledge. They can also sing, they know the words to most modern pop songs and make up for what they don't know with tumultuous volume! For instance, they managed to take a beautiful song, "Chasing Pavements" and turn it into something akin to a 200 decibel football chant! So funny.

What goes on at camp, stays at camp.

Apart from.....
A little cub throwing bits of bread at Little Fink and her friend, I shout at him to stop. A little later, Little Fink comes up to me and says, "Please don't tell C****** you are my mum."

Mrs Biscuit and Mr Coultard were both on site, in fine form. Along with The Charioteer and his faithful driver Jeeves who never fail to make us smile. (Jeeves had requested that his breakfast bacon roll be delivered to his tent by the kitchen staff - to which he received a suitable reply!)

SUNDAY - Rain, rain and more rain, some of the kids tents are in danger of becoming waterlogged so all start digging trenches around them to divert the water. The children are filthy and loving it. On site activities including, Backwoods Cooking - "Eugh look at the blood on that fish...yuck...can i touch it?" Cyclo-cross - rerouted as the mud and water made the original route dangerous. Woodworking - Little Fink made Harry the Hedgehog. At elevenses i looked at Little Fink (you only really get to see the children at meal times, the rest of the time, they are spread out all over the site, impossible to find) bearing in mind it is walloping down with rain and she is wet through, I ask, "How hard does it have to rain before you feel waterproofs are necessary?".

Two of the cooking team and I spent the night in the local TravelInn as my back was so sore and they don't camp. I watched the morning (5am) weather report on Monday - Hike Day - to find a severe weather warning had been issued, 60mph winds and torrential rain forecast. By 7am I had decided my back was too painful to stay on site so I phoned Mr Fink and he sleepily agreed to come 160 miles and get me. We cooked breakfast for the hikers, we were worried as the weather was so fierce and the children were due to be hiking across Exmoor - I was sure the troop would be on the evening news having been rescued by the Mountain Rescue people. I found Little Fink - bacon buttie in hand - told her I was going home and asked her what did she want to do (I really wanted her to come home as her eye was going pink again) she declined my offer and said she was going hiking. What can I say?

As the hike parties were leaving we had to create a trench through the kitchen to divert the water through. Mr Fink arrived at about noon and i was very relieved to see him. I said my goodbyes and asked the girls to keep me updated on Little Fink's progress eye=wise and headed off home. Sad to leave but in enough discomfort to be glad to be going too.

Apparently some of the hikes were rerouted from across the top of Exmoor to the beach for safety reasons. I'll know more, hopefully, when I see Little Fink on Friday.

I'd like to offer a big thank you to all the Finkers that have left messages of support on the camp website, you know who you are.

We're all Going on a Summer Hoilday

OK, the lorries are packed, 120 cubs, scouts and adults are gearing up for one more sleep till 'lift off'!

Saturday we are all off to Scout Camp. Little Fink and I will be there but Mr fink is remailing behind on his own to feed animals, work through the list of jobs I've prepared for him. Not to drink cider, play golf and watch zombie films, oh no.

He is dropping us off at 9am on Saturday at the Scout hut.

"Will you miss me?" I asked.

"Not on Saturday, I'm playing golf in the afternoon." Typical.

We almost cancelled the trip, I picked Little Fink up from school and she had two bloodshot eyes with green goo coming out of them. I took her to the chemist, who prescribed hayfever eye drops. Over the early evening her eyes got worse and worse, almost becoming swollen shut. We took her to another chemist who prescribed anti-biotic eye drops. By the time Mr Fink and I went to bed, she was asleep, eyes swollen horribly with hardened green goo trailed across her face. My heart was breaking, I woke her up a bit and cleaned her up.

Mr Fink and I considered A&E but thought we would leave it til morning. When she got up she cleaned her now stuck together lids and as the day progressed, her eyes have got better and better. She has one slightly swollen, totally bloodshot eye (horrid to see) and one that is almost back to normal. Yay we can go to camp.

I shall be off line and incommunicado for the next week - don't think they have tinternet and phone signals in deepest Taunton!

Pray for sun - unwashed damp cubs don't half pong by the third day!

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?