Weekend, work and weeding at the Winchelsea

---

It's 21.54 on the 27th of April. Time for a brief update of life here at the Winchelsea household.
Saturday we woke and breakfasted, then set out almost immediately to start back on the slide of the play structure. It was fairly close to zero degrees when we started at around nine, and this made it near impossible to fiddle around with the 50 something nuts and bolts that were needed to build the rest of the slide. We nearly gave up several times, and had to redo some steps again and again as we kept getting the alignment slightly wrong, but at least by lunch the slide was about s metre longer than it was when we set out.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in a similar fashion - building, cursing, giving up all hope, proclaiming in a voice of resigned confidence that this step was 'simply not possible' and sadly shaking our heads, then moments later saying 'oh hang on, maybe I've got it', then having a small celebration before moving on to the next step where the cycle would repeat.
As the others continued with the slide, I constructed the roof and Matt and I spent a good 45 minutes bolting it on, looking at it, unbolting it and trying again in a different order until finally it looked passably straight. Just as the finishing touches were being added we were called in for dinner - which we ate hurriedly as, by this point, we needed (needed here to be in italics) to get the play structure built. And we did, the last screw being tightened 30 minutes later into the stake that firmly held the slide into the ground. By this point the kids were out and desperate to try it out. It was really nice to see them enjoying it and I think we were all pretty proud of sticking it through to the end.
The German girls had built a campfire ( it was a little warmer by the evening), so we all sat round toasting marshmallows as the sun went down in the far, far distance over the flat fields of Ontario. A guitar was produced and Frankie played songs with a slightly bizarre, but not unpleasant, mix of German and English lyrics.
Once it was completely dark I realised that my eyes were itching more than could be explained by just the fires smoke, so I went into the toilet to see I'd reacted fairly badly to something or other, and one of my eyes was swollen almost to closing. I washed it with cool water and seemed out some antihistamines which I guess must have been drowsy as I fell asleep instantly, fully clothed, on my bed for 10 hours.
We had the day off on Sunday, but unfortunately the kids don't allow much of a lie-in. Bennett was playing what sounded like hockey in the room next door at 8.30, so I was awake shortly after and down for breakfast.
The rest of the morning was spent in my room reading and napping - I went for a run at one point - interspersed with breaks for tea and lunch. I genuinely had to ask Matt what I did yesterday as I did so little it feels like I'm forgetting something. Oh yes, Rosie and I napped for about 2 hours in the evening too.
After that I showered and went down for a dinner of wonderfully seasoned chicken wings, potato wedges, salad and beer kept in an ice bucket on the porch. All of this was, of course, because it was the 6th Habs - Sens game that evening. We settled down to watch, a sense of nervous excitement over everyone except the Germans, who watched with a mixture of boredom and distaste before going to bed before the 2nd period. Montreal (Habs) scored in the 1st period, much to our delight and everyone else's disappointment, and the entirety of the 2nd and almost all the 3rd period was an agonising Ottawa (Sens) onslaught that Habs somehow managed to weather.
Then, as sometimes happens in sport, a fantastic moment. It was the last 30 seconds of the last period (in hockey the clock counts down), and one of the Habs players was sin binned for 2 minutes meaning the Sens had 5 vs 4 advantage, called a power play and were savagely launching shot after shot at the Habs goalie. Then, with seconds to spare one of the Montreal players manages to regain possession and launches a shot from one end of the rink towards the open Sens goal (if a team is losing they'll often "pull their goalie" for another attacking player, giving them a better chance of scoring). And it went in, with 0.3 seconds to spare. We lost it, unable to believe that we'd scored and secured our place in the next round with such a extraordinary goal. It was a great evening.
This morning begun like most others, except the fact we no longer had any play structures to build, and so started on our new project - to tidy up the garden. More specifically, the raised landscaped areas around the driveways that were supposed to be just small trees and the odd boulder, surrounded by wood-chips. However, a lot of the wood chips had been lost in a storm and the landscape cloth ripped by invading plant roots that needed pulling. Most irritatingly, and inexplicably, all of - the entire area had somehow become covered in straw that needed painstakingly removing as its yellow colour was clear amongst the dark brown mulch.
As we do best, we quickly took on jobs that suited our skills and personalities the best. Matt and I doing the digging, the cutting, the carrying and the dumping, while Kate and Rosie actually made the place look well kept and tidy with a patience and attention to detail that quickly drives me to distraction. Anyway, we got the job done, finishing nicely at 5pm - ready to head in and have dinner. After eating Rosie, Kate and I watched the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (a fantastic film, by the way) before retiring to our beds for the night.
Tomorrow, there's a whole other bank to clear.

---

Comments

[Dr John HW]

On the cusp...
Still more or less neck and neck here as the election approaches, although I can't get it out of my head that at the last minute the Great British Public will 'cling to nanny' and ensure that the Conservatives roll arrogantly back to power. Very late swing - usually to the Conservatives - has been a feature of several British general elections over the last 40 years. It's absolutely on a knife edge at present, which is likely to increase turnout which may just help Labour (as their supporters are usually more difficult to get out to vote). Sitting here listening to This is All Yours at present. It's difficult to describe in words how good 'Nara' is - an absolutely superb track. Good to read that you were listening to The Day is my Enemy when running recently. Another great album. Great description of the hockey and sport has the unrivalled capacity to produce such golden moments. I remember being at Wembley for a play-off final about 18 years ago when Palace scored the only goal of the game in the 89th minute with a cracking shot into the top corner. Cue total, complete and utter pandemonium the like of which I have never experienced before or since. Sorry to hear the weather has closed in again, although I think I saw that it's warming up for you again. We are on the cusp of bank holiday weekend, which naturally means that the forecast is for rain, wind and low temperatures. By the way, where did the straw come from?!