Week 87 - Gin tasting

Monday was Prize Day for the girls. Usually this would be held in the Hippodrome and would involve prizes for various things, but mainly for the school leavers. All the school goes, but year 7 are co-opted into a compulsory choir, so as a yr 7 parent I would have got a ticket (the only other parents who can go are those who are parents of prize winners. The girls would go in for the event in the morning and would be finished by lunchtime, when we could go for lunch together (me having taken a day off).

Well this year, it was to be held on-line. The girls were very happy with this, as it meant staying in bed until about 8am and being finished with school by 10.30am. I was a bit sad to miss the event, I would have loved to see Bunnykins singing as I did with Woo.

Anyway, I used the time to go for a run. It has been a good while, and I have been struggling to recover from the effects of covid-19 on my chest. I didn't really get a proper unbroken run, but it was better than nothing. It was a beautifully misty morning.

Mark was already away to London for the day.

I didn't start work until 9am, as I had to get the girls up, convince them to get out of pjs and eat breakfast before they logged on. I had had a meeting booked in for me over lunch (not only that it turned out to be a meeting where I would be asked to write a £30k proposal to be in for the end of the day). So I decided to break for something to eat at 10:30am when the girls were done. We went across to the café for brunch. 

Woo agreed to make tea for us, as I was going to need to work pretty solidly to get everything done. She made a macaroni cheese. It was really delicious. 

On Wednesday evening, Bunnykins was back to netball at Bradley Stoke. Mark was working in Overmoor and had the Mama Sting. I saw that Bunnykins had got her bus to take her up to Bradley Stoke, so I went to get in the orange car, so I could drive to meet her. The car wouldn't start, it wouldn't even open - the battery was so dead. I was trying to get hold of Bunnykins and also get a taxi on Uber. I managed to speak to Bunnykins and get her to stay at the big Tescos until I finally got dropped off. 

We managed to arrive at practice just as it was starting. Mark got home and made tea, then came to pick us up.

After tea, Woo was working on her art homework and asked for my advice. It was nice to sit chatting about techniques for using watercolour and watercolour pencils. 

On Thursday, I went into the office, but this time on the bus, due to the cycle path closure. 

At lunch I tried a nearby café that was doing pasties for £3. I sat to read my book for the hour. 

At 5pm Ben was waiting and we went to go home on the bus. There has been a bus driver shortage. We went to the Rupert Street stop that was completely jammed up with abandoned busses. A driver was wandering around trying to find his specific bus. A first western employee was trying to figure out what to do with the busses and trying to avoid questions. A 48a pulled up in the middle of the road and let out passengers through the bus gap we were standing near. I yelled out to the crowd - "anyone waiting for the 48a?" - a wave of people flooded to the bus, where the driver was yelling at people not to get on. I then turned into the de-facto info person with people asking me what was going on. Mr 48a did let people on after a few minutes and I could relax a bit. Another driver had arrived and was mooching about in the first abandoned bus. I asked the first great western person what bus it was going to be - he had no idea. Several more people asked him the same thing... no idea. A crowd gathered... what would the bus be?...minutes passed...and then glory be! It was a 49! 

Bunnykins had brought home her report. I was so chuffed with how she is getting on, really really proud of her and how hard she works....Though she then had the cheek to criticise me as a ukulele student - which I did think was a bit rich given how her music report stood out from the others...perhaps it is just not in our blood to be good music students....

Friday was a non-uniform day at school. There had been a lot of activity the previous evening over who was wearing what. It was lovely how they were sharing clothes. In the morning, there was still some to-ing and fro-ing so it turned out to be a really manic start. I tried to get some pictures of them, but you can see how I was thwarted.

Woo had borrowed one of my t-shirts and had gone for some quality layering. She had leant her cargo trousers to Bunnykins. Anyway, it was lovely to see them going off together as friends. 

I dropped them at the bus-stop and then drove across to Ben's. We went out to pick up some rubble bags and then back to his house to do some work clearing the side of the house. 

But first was a little presentation of our Bristol Bridges Walk badges.

We bagged up rubble and excess soil, then took that and some other bits of junk to the tip. 

We got unloaded at the tip, then came back to the park. We met up with Mark for lunch at the hatch. Ben was proudly wearing his new badge. 

In the afternoon, I did some work in the garden to plant up some more of my pots with bulbs.

Meanwhile, Mark had taken my bike off for a service, using the opportunity of the cycle path closure to get this job done. He spotted some good mushrooms. For some reason the girls are fascinated by spotting new mushrooms.

Before too long, the girls were back home. 

We got the tea on and settled down to eat and then watch a Marvel film.

Saturday we got up, Mark made us pancakes for breakfast. We went down to the Dickson house for 10am. Hannah came in with us, and Bunnykins rode with Martha. We went off in convoy to Catbrook in Wales. Hannah and I got dropped off at the Silver Circle Distillery. Mark and the girls, and Jason, C&M, went off for a walk. 

I had 2 tickets for a gin tasking session. It was quite a novelty to be presented with a gin and tonic "while we wait" at 10:50am.

A few others turned up and we got shown the equipment. We were then presented with various gins to try.

From left to right: their signature Wye Valley Gin (very nice), a damson gin (would be very nice with prosecco), their vodka (so tasty - a real favourite), and then a black garlic bloody Mary (erm - would be great as a chilli with rice, not so great as a drink..)

It was a lot of fun.

We got to try a coconut expresso martini and a particularly fruity combination that wasn't such a hit.

We finished our drinks and then bought a few presents. 

The rest of the gang turned up back from their walk.

We weren't done, so the kids hung around looking at the view, Mark and Jason went for another walk until we were done.

We then went off to the Star on the Hill pub. It was quite a wait to be served, but it was a nice atmosphere with log fires and lovely views across the Wye Valley. The food was good.     

Eventually it was time to head home.

Bunnykins wanted to play some games. Woo had a go at Brainmaster, but it was just me and her in the end which was lovely. 

We really enjoyed Flips - tiddlywinks.

We also played maths dice and top trumps. Some classic Mummy/Bunnykins games.

On Sunday morning I slept in a bit after waking to bad dreams early in the morning. Mark made us pancakes. Woo and I went off to the garden center - she loves a garden center visit. The weather had turned a lot colder...not that Woo in her skort, crop top, and layers seemed to notice. At least she had some warm boots on.

 

We picked up some compost and some hellebores, plus some pot plants for the bathroom. I got home and went out to the back garden to plant up some more bulbs (and the hellebores) in my containers. I also moved around some sedums and planted up some garlic. 

Bunnykins was busy working on homework. 

The afternoon passed by with Christmas present ordering, blogging and me finishing my book. I got to the end of the Neapolitan series. It has been an absorbing read, perhaps too absorbing at times, so there is a part of me that was glad to have got to the end. Reading is an escape, but sometimes you have to be careful where you choose to escape to.