My disorganised morning

One thing Angela didn't mention last night was the wind.  Windy it certainly was on the way home!  Exciting gusts that try blowing you into the traffic down in the city, and very unusually a head-wind going up our steep hill.  Normally that hill is very sheltered, which is a small mercy.  Not yesterday.  Still, I did the not-terrible time of 11:15 up the hill, which given the conditions was pretty well alright.  Under 11 minutes I consider good, and under 10 minutes means I am an exceptional athlete.  Well, in my mind.

This morning I was up very early, getting into the shower straight after Angela before 6am.  I had lots to do and an early meeting and wanted to make sure everything went well.  But, of course, time warp kicked in, and I ended up later than if I'd have got up at 7am.  I don't really know how that happens.

My organisational skills were also sadly lacking.  I was running around in a panic from about 7:30 onwards.  (Toby was very helpful and got his jobs done and then looked after me).  The nadir was the time I spent searching the whole house for Toby's jacket, since Angela had mentioned that it wasn't in his bag and she didn't know where it was.  Only to find that she's clearly since found it and put it in his bag for us!

I had to go back twice from the garage, to get Toby's present for Tom, and then to get a garage key.  Twice was clearly not enough, since I don't have my wallet at all, which is going to make lunch time slightly problematic - no sandwiches for us this morning.  And I need to keep my jersey on all day - because the 'casual friday' T-Shirt I grabbed has a big picture of a dog licking its balls on the back of it, which is probably a bit too casual.

But all worked out.  I was panicking because I had an 8:30 meeting and everything has to run just right to make it on time.  But we made it to Toby's holiday programme before it opened, so I was on my bike right on time.  I rode down in spite of the rain, because bike is the only way to make that sort of deadline - it's the fastest way in, even compared to driving,  because there are rat runs you can do on a bike that you can't do on a car, and the traffic is pretty slow that time of morning.  Yes - it was wet and cold.  But not particularly so.  I brought a towel and a complete change of clothes in and was quickly warm and comfortable.  Bring it on I say!  Though I envy Angela's disc brakes.  Mine were pretty useless.  They're also very worn out which doesn't help at all.  I went pretty gingerly down the hill.

Oh well, it's Friday which is great!  I have a very busy weekend with many jobs to get done - don't quite know how that matches up with Angela's lazy weekend.  But we will see.  Forecast I think, is for this rain to blow through tonight and the weekend to be okay, which bodes well for another day in the garden.  Enjoy your day!

Toby's lunch

Angela went in early today, so she could leave early.  So early that she couldn't make any sandwiches.  Now, I think that's a good thing - I think that Toby and I should make our own lunches.  And surprisingly, Toby was really on board.  When I said that he had to help me make his lunch, he went one further and did the whole thing himself.  He even didn't want me there to provide any help at all.

I hope he really enjoys his potato chip and Hersheys Chocolate Sauce sandwiches.

Awful radio stations

Yes, our radio station is awful. In a bone-grating, fingernails-down-the-chalkboard sort of way.

Trouble is, between our old, analog radio and the plethora of stations in Wellington, the only two stations powerful enough to drown out the ones around them are the National Programme and this station. And I'm not quite old enough yet to wake up to the National Programme - plus we tried it, and calm, quiet, soothing voices weren't exactly effective to get us out of bed.

So we need to buy a new clock radio - maybe with a digital tuner, maybe with an iPod, maybe with internet radio. My dream? To slipstream the station we used to listen to in London and wake up to it on 12-hour delay.

Anyways, Toby was good this morning, he got ready very quickly and happily and helpfully. He made his honey sandwich and slipped three chocolate biscuits into his lunchbox when he thought I wasn't looking.

The only drama was a crisis with his 'Donkey'. A work colleague has given us a set of balls and rods that you can join together a bit like those chemistry "model a molecule" sets you get in high school. And he loves it. Yesterday he made a Donkey out of it, which was a triumph of abstract art. But today - the Donkey's head fell off, and Toby couldn't get it back on in a way that achieved the sublime aesthetic of yesterday. He was very upset. Tears ensued. But I got him calmed down eventually and we planned and rebuilt the donkey better than before. Only problem now is the camera has a flat battery so we can't capture its majesty.

Making lunches

I've put my foot down and said that both Toby and I will make our own lunches. Angela has very kindly been making our lunches for us, but I don't think it's good for me, and I don't think it's good for Toby. It's taken a while, because Toby has been going in with his Granddad for most of the last week, and Angela hasn't quite believed me so I've ended up with two lunches on more than one day. But today was the first day where I've been taking Toby to school, and have had control over his lunch.

Toby really enjoyed it. I really only meant that he'd make his sandwiches, but Angela left everything out for his morning and afternoon snacks too. So we started with sandwiches, and after mulling it over and thinking about marmite, no, honey, no, a huge 4-slice club sandwich with OODLES of honey - Toby decided to make himself a ham and cheese sandwich, which he hasn't had for ages. So he filled his sandwich and then got the gladwrap and cut a generous piece of clingfilm to wrap it in.

Now it was time for sorting snacks, and the first I knew about this was when Toby found the mallowpuffs ('Royales' in Australian English) and promptly stuffed one in his mouth. Why were these out, I wondered? Aha, Toby's lunch box was completely empty. So we got a mallowpuff and again, Toby cut a generous piece of gladwrap for it. Then he got a yakult and insisted on wrapping it with the mallowpuff - 'to keep it cool', you see. Then we found an apricot - and wrapped it in Gladwrap - and some apple - and wrapped it in gladwrap - and some mango slices - wrapped up in gladwrap. I think we weren't supposed to take everything that was on offer, but oh well.

Just as we were just about to go, Toby found another apple and I found him attempting to crush it and make apple juice. So I chopped it up for him and told him he'd need to eat it on the way. But we decided it may's well go into his lunch box as well. I put it into a ziplock bag, but guess what? Toby got another bit of gladwrap and wrapped up the plastic bag. 'Now we know it's sealed', he said.

So lunch prep is definitely going to be a highlight of our mornings from now on. I'm going to have to be organised enough to get us off on time!!