A high drama of new youth, parenthood and smelly nappies

Posts from October 2007

06:02pm Friday, 26th October 2007

last week P and C popped out for a night on the glasgow tiles to see the SFA, cole due to drive back so P could drunkenly enjoy Gruff and friends. well, that was the plan until G dutifly lost the car keys on cue as P was about to out the door to Glasgow. After an hour or so’s frantic searching P had to get a train into glasgow and we both dashed to get the last train back – missing the last song of the evening – before a taxi home. still, a marvellous evening was had by all. cole jumped up and down like he was a teenager again (and felt it for several days afterwards) and peta revelled in the up and close ambience of the glasgow barrowlands. a lovely night for both henleys and a mega thanks to linzi for G-sitting and helping hunt down the keys. they were found first thing the next morning in the first place cole looked….

last weekend was a tranquil affair, the 3 henleys enjoying an uber-siesta on sunday and a generally lethargic weekend, not getting done any of the many things we had hoped to do. oh well. this week has flown by and by wednesday we were ready for another visitor with kate coming up to pay her birthday respects to Peta.

p and kate popped off to the cinema for a birthday treat advanced screening of the new elizabeth film. cole in the meantime was charged with getting him and G home in the car, no mean feat when he somehow managed to circumnavigate edinburgh the wrong way and eventually got home 90 minutes later (should have been a 45 min journey). whoops!

we are set for a small house warming soiree tomorrow so had better get up early to trim the hedges and other such random acts of tidiness in advance of the thronging masses (well, the 3 people we know who might be able to find their way to muirhouses), though Ps bro Martin has foolishly braved the train systems for a visit from Londinium. bottles of cheapest cava set to stun!

11:25am Thursday, 18th October 2007

What an enjoyable week the Henleys have had after the seemingly never-ending lurgy we were all experiencing. We are still getting used to our new abode, particularly G who has decided that 6 in the am is a really good time to be waking up. Not looking forward to the clocks changing!

We are still enjoying the presence of a few mice about the house from time to time. They are quite big and slippery customers although between Peta and Belle we seem to have got all the ones that have dared surface. The wasps that had nested in our new abode also seem to have chilled out a bit with the onset of the autumnal cold. There are still one or two boxes that are resisting being packed but soon they will be banquished forever, muhawhawhaw!

Last weekend moomin and gramps ‘popped’ up for a visit en route to an ordination in Inverness and stayed for a few days. We had a lovely time enjoying walks in the country (a lovely stroll to the nearby Carriden House with G stopping to eat every bramble on the way) and also a trip to Stirling for some infotainment on G’s heritage, taking in Bannockburn battlefield and the Wallace Monument, all interspersed with some fine dining and plenty of gin.

At Bannockburn Cole clearly stuck out as a token Englishman and was demonstrated upon with a multitude of medieval weaponry (thuis is how to attack someone with an axe/sword/spear/mace/all the above) before he and P donned some chainmail armour (mundo heavy).

After Medieval hijinks at Bannockburn we all set off for some more anti-English sentiment at the Wallace monument where a warts-and-all account of the Battle of Stirling Bridge was recounted by an actor before scaling all 246 steps of the tower for some fantastic views across Stirling and beyond.

This week the childminder has been on holiday so Cole and Peta have been juggling childcare duties, and we are off to a gig tonight to enjoy personal favourites the super furry animals in Glasgow for our first gig since G was born (and to think our last gig was also SFA in Glasgow when G was in P’s tummy). Thanks to Linzi for stepping into the bairn-sitting fray!!

03:41pm Thursday, 11th October 2007

all 3 henleys have been going through the lurgy machine and spat out at the other end. gethin in still sporting his rather fetching snot moustache whilst daddy had a 24-hour vomitting bug on monday and mum is now under the cosh with something similar although without the able assistance of a child minder to take care of G :(

we are looking forward to a visitation from moomin and gramps tomorrow before peta’s birthday the week after. maybe we will be unpacked by then. but then again maybe not..

02:18pm Friday, 5th October 2007

one week on all henleys are well, although gethin has been nursing a snotty cold for the past week or so.

we were graced with a visitation from godmum amelia (she of the pol-e tunnel) for a few days to coincide with cole’s geburstag. a fun few days was had. on friday cole went out boozing with workmates in the big smoke – his first for a wee while. on saturday cole awoke jaded from a generous lie-in before a stroll to bonnytoun farm from our new abode to meet ben, ruthie et al. and purchase some organic produce. it was a long stroll, particularly nursing the after effects of a few too many beers, but a lovely walk and we returned for a nice breakfast courtesy of meli’s culinary expertise. we spent the afternoon doing a spot of gardening – breaking out the heavy tools for some hardcore mowing, trimming and strimming, meli telling us what was what in the garden.

in the evening we set off for some leisurely drinks at the bonsyde with the cadells and a trio of bairns hell bent on burning off some calories and replenishing them with the parents alcoholic beverages. we headed back to watch a film (venus featuring an aged peter o’toole swearing his way through a mesmerising film), polish off a bottle of wine and bed.

on sunday we awoke and headed off to livingston, cole determined to spend some birthday cash that had come his way before a lovely lunch at friends kenny and jan’s in airdrie. we then set off for a coffee in south queensferry before meli had to head back down south through the medium of flight.

a lovely weekend which preceded quite a quiet week at henley towers. still catching up with all the paperwork associated with moving house and a few boxes yet to unpack. still no tv signal so have decided to dispence with televisual entertainment, but am gaining suitable distractions courtesy of the radio and dvd player (new remote arrived in the post – yay!).

peta has been working all week it seems, doing a spot of rhyme time (i think that’s what its called) on her day off and also celebrating national bookstart day at edinburgh zoo with plenty of ~~animals~~ wee kids.