Rising at 5:30am in the peace of Sherwood Forest is quite a pleasant experience, when everyone else rose a bit later, though I did manage a short bike ride at 8am with brother Malc before he headed off for an extended ride. Since he had both knees replaced, he has maintained a very positive exercise regime mainly on his bike and as I hadn’t had my morning coffee, I headed back to the unit! (That was my excuse...) Straight after, Paula and I went out again on bikes to the park’s village square and had a another coffee! On our return, we were all prepared to cook brunch, but Dave and Malc had gone out again on their bikes, (testing out the ‘helmet cam’ that Dave had bought for Malc) and they didn’t return until about 1:15, by which time we were well and truly hungry and I was engrossed in the German GP, having missed all the others since the end of May.Noah was introduced to Mac & Birdie (Emu) for the first time and also as expected, they both sampled the bird feeder. Meanwhile Malc kept up his other regime of a cup of tea every hour, on the hour.
Stewart & Manu then took Noah to the water centre and Paula and I followed. When you are over six feet tall, spending an hour in a children’s paddling pool is a rather strange experience, but it was baby-sitting time whilst Stew & Manu swam the rapids.
Monday July 25th
Back to normal again as we all packed our gear, ready to vacate by 10am. Fortunately Paula managed to pack up much of the baby gear as Manu was running well behind schedule. Once we had dumped the cars outside again, we headed for the Pancake House, as we had been promising ourselves a treat and never managed it before. Phew! A substantial breakfast pancake was enough to keep us going for a while, before heading home. (Well, temporary home anyway.)
A meal out at night with the older section of the group was a pleasant end to the (long) weekend. Dave is a keen energy conservation proponent (it is his business...) and is known for minimum lighting at home, much to the amusement of the rest of us, so whilst he was talking to a neighbour, Malc switched all the lounge lights on full and waited for the inevitable response when Dave returned...
Tuesday July 26th – The birthday boy.
Caught up with the updated blogs of the cruisers and love the silly hats from Bergen, Scotland and Ireland! Although we would have loved to have been there, it was in fact a little bit warmer in the UK. Not a lot maybe, but not too bad. We realise that compromises always have to be made when travelling, but family time is somewhat scarce when you are 12,000 miles away from your son and heirs. We went with Malc to our senior cousin (she is 78) before heading back into town, but this time we used the park & ride caught the tram.When we returned home there was a notice pinned to the door addressed to all ‘residents’:
Due to recent unprecedented high levels of energy consumption, certain restrictions have had to be imposed.
Our MALC (maximum allowed lighting consumption) targets have been lowered, consequently, lighting levels must be kept at their absolute minimum at all times. Switch ‘off’ if not required!
In addition, during peak hours (6am to 11:30pm), heating appliances i.e. electric showers, hair dryers etc. can only be used on their ‘cold’ settings.
As a further measure in controlling our energy consumption, tokens will need to be purchased for the use of laptop computers and other ‘hi-tec’ electrical equipment.
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We are sorry to have to implement these conditions but hope our guests will understand.
Thank you for your co-operation.
(Since showing this to friends with grown up children, they asked for a copy...)
Noah’s first birthday today and Stew & Manu brought him around and we had quite a photo-shoot, as it is rare that we three brothers are together, so it was a bonus to have all the male Greens together. Pre-Dover cruisers will be pleased to hear that Noah chose Mac the Macaw out of the two possibilities (probably because it makes a noise!). The evening was rounded off with a catch up with my oldest and dearest pal who was unable to make my 65th so another meal out... Am I complaining? Not at all.
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