June 05
June has been a tennis month, both playing it and watching it. Finally we found a tennis club which was within a reasonable distance so we signed up and there are so few members that it is like having your own personal court and we can usually play whenever we plan to. The only drawback is that there is a close neighbour of the court who appears to be a Victor Meldrew type of character prone to outbursts if there have been too many balls landing in his roses. We only know this because there was a long note about him pinned within the court and what to do in case he tries storming onto the court.
On top of all the builders bills we are also having to pay for quite a lot of new household kit as everything decides to give up the ghost at the same time. The strange thing is that all modern machinery appears to sound like different stages in a flight so the house is beginning to sound more like an airport with the washing machine practising take-offs and landings and the new vacuum cleaner feathering its prop. We have no idea what feathering a prop means but we just know what it sounds like.
The beginning of the month found Tony in Greenland doing aerial survey. The weather was so good that they managed to do everything in two days including one marathon run of 10 hours (without going to the toilet!) so he was able to come home four days early having spent what amounted to only a long weekend in Greenland. What a contrast to 1979 when the logistics of getting to Greenland took almost as much effort as planning what to do for the four months they stayed there. It is still a very photogenic place and a sample of the views can be seen here.
Gwen had a very tough day recently starting with the very first time she has slept over at a friend’s house. Normally that ends at about 11pm when we get a phone call saying Gwen wants to go home. Instead that has been Mia’s role with us being called twice in the last two weeks. Gwen had also got sunburnt that day while playing outside at a friend’s house. Then it was off to the dentist for her first filling probably caused by the fact that her mouth is a study in chaos with old teeth and new teeth all higgledy-piggledy and jostling for position so not easy to clean properly. But childhood memories of anaesthetic-free treatment were soon replaced by the double anaesthetic of modern day children’s dentistry. Whoever heard of a pre-anaesthetic anaesthetic? But that is what Gwen got which made the whole thing relatively pain free and on top of that the amalgam is no longer silver grey so you don’t even notice that she has got a filling.
The girls have been very patient because their first two weeks of summer holiday has been spent accompanying Mum to work as the latter works against the clock to get an application for money finished before the deadline of July 4th. So now it is just a question of getting ready for departure on Friday 1st July for a two-week sojourn in the UK.
May 2005
There is a critical period in the life of a Danish garden and we have missed it this year through a combination of being absent, having builders’ equipment still strewn about the place and not having a functioning lawn mower. The net result is that the garden resembles even more of a jungle than usual and that the toys of young children get lost and will only be recoverable once autumn sets in.
Nothing stops the progress of the rhubarb though, after it was transplanted to a sunnier location last year and we would be grateful for any innovative ideas as to how to use it apart from stewed and in crumbles.
The month started with Gwen and Mia going on their summer camp just as torrential rain and thunder were forecast. As an older child Gwen was expected to reside in a tent which became flooded in the middle of the night at which point they decamped to the main building where the younger ones were staying. Gwen had been very doubtful about this camping lark anyway and had only agreed to go when she realised she wouldn’t also have to cycle to the venue but we doubt that she will be ‘up for it’ next year.
At the same time Anne went to Oslo to sort out a project planning a virtual conference in November. May ended with Anne going to Lithuania where she met the teachers she has been tutoring online since December. You can get a flavour of the Vilnius trip at http://www.teaching-culture.de/en/events/litauen/travelogue/travelogue_start.htm Meanwhile Tony’s new boss started and Tony is hoping all will go well as he was on the selection panel which appointed him.
At the end of May the Rotherham Houfes came to stay for a week and for the first time had terrible weather throughout with even a distant thunderstorm thrown in. We did manage to spend a day at Sommerland and Jan was brave and went with the younger children on the new tall carousel. Otherwise we concentrated on indoor venues and took advantage of the free train rides which were an apology from the Arriva company for their broken promises earlier in the year. Get a visual flavour of their stay from http://afox2.photosite.com/Rotherham/
May ended with the return of the lawnmower but with constant rain so the prospects for June look no better as far as the garden is concerned. This is partly because Tony went off to Greenland for a week at the beginning of June and he is the only one heavy enough to convince the lawnmower that there is a competent person in charge of the machine.
