bairn blog: a tale of three henleys

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10:04am Wednesday, 21st June 2006

an update is well overdue so will try to oblige you eager bairn bloggites. over a week since the last update so plenty to report.

after leaving peta in the lakes cole set upon some quality, un-interrupted nights sleep in deepest darkest west lothian – unfortunately cat belle begged to differ. if it wasn’t meowing it was scratching or even the quite audacious, “wake-up-i’m-hungry” accompanied by a tap on the nose. i always thought belle was quite good grounding for a bairn.

wednesday saw cole’s beloved spain play their first game of the world cup and for the first time in an age, unleash a performance worthy of optimism for the

tournament head, but then you are not here to read about football are you!

thursday was much of a muchness – awake, coffee, work, lunch, work, home, munch, sleep. i think that’s about it although one of my all-time favourite films, the rock, put paid to any plans of an early night.

friday was cole’s last day home alone and a day’s work was followed by birthday celebrations for the lovely shelley. a three course meal on a candle-lit barge for 8 land lubbers, passing the delightful urban scenery of the Union Canal. after a delightful evening we returned to shelley’s friend, pam’s, flat for an evening of beverages where cole managed to miss the last train back to linlithgow – a potential problem given that he was supposed to depart bright (cough) and early (cough) in the morning down to the lakes to collect Peta and Gethin.

Fortunately, Cole had received a tip-off from his man on the inside down south that the family were allowed to stay in their rented cottage for an extra day so the urgency to get down to the Lakes was less than originally thought. Saturday morning cole set off on his what turned out to be epic journey to the lakes after a wee lie-in. the trains from edinburgh to linlithgow were scuppered, going via the east of the city and reduced to an hourly service. but suitably sustenanced by a fried-egg sandwich at ryan and shelley’s cole set off and got home in time to set off on the long drive to the lakes.

the journey was uneventful but long and by three o’clock cole was in keswick, meeting up with the rest of the family in time for a cream tea without the cream, or the tea, as it was too late in the day :(

in just three days gethin had seemingly grown exponentially and it sounded like all had had a fun few days! we enjoyed a last night together, complete with monsterous chinese meal, and in the morning prepared the big pack as we all set to distinguish between three families gubbins and the piles of respective baby belongings. we set off mid-afternoon and popped in to shelley’s parents in maryport en route to report back on their lovely new abode to shelley. a quick feed and change in carlisle and we were home bound.

the rest of the weekend we lazed, ate and got some well-earned kip before back to work on monday. and that is about it. monday saw another victory for spain against tunisia (although less convincing than the 4-0 trouncing of ukraine) and peta went to the doctor to enquire about gethin’s skin and skalp which was quite dry and raw. he has cradle cap on his head, which has unfortunately become infected and spread on to his face. he also has ezcema on his body so we were suitably stocked up with an assortment of ointements and lotions to apply throughout the day.

on tuesday peta set into town for an adventure in the edinburgh rain before an evening’s food, merriment and scrabble at shelley’s to celebrate her birthday proper. tuesday night also marked the closest gethin has come to sleeping through the night. hussah! we didn’t get back from edinburgh until eleven and by the time he was fed and prepped for bed/cot it was getting close to midnight. he then slept through until sevenish so that is great! in his new cot (he has outgrown his crib the wee monster) he has also taken to a new trick which he has clearly inherited from his father – namely to mess up the blankets and lie across the cot. something that will no doubt confound and annoy future girlfriends!

will leave peta to report on her and gethin’s antics in the lake district.