The Visit

With all the snot dripping from my nose and making the key board sticky (eew, only joking!) I thought that maybe I'd give writing this diary a miss tonight, but how could I, after the visit from Mother and Auntie?!! (It seems being ill is no get out clause, as suggested by some, who will not be named!!)

If you remember from the last instalment, I was free for them to come for tea and cake from 4pm but mum thought that was much too late. In the end so did I because it was parents evening which meant I had to feed the children and be out again by 6.30. So I called in a childcare favour from a friend (a favour, I might add, that I had been storing up for a proper emergency, like a Christmas shopping trip!) which meant that I didn't have to pick up Small Sprog at 3.15 or Tall Girl from the bus stop at 3.45. That gave me a whole hour and a half from 2.30 (when I wanted them to come) until I needed to retrieve the children from my friend at 4pm so that she could go out.

I called mum last night to tell her 2.30 would be fine. "Oh, I thought we'd make it 4 after all" She says. "For ****'s sake" I didn't scream! Instead I gently stated that I had sorted everything out and they would be welcome at 2.30 and I needed to feed the children by 5.30. "Don't worry" she warbled "We'll come at 3, and then you can go and get the children because Auntie would like to see them"
"I can't get them until 4 now, it's arranged"
"That's OK we'll wait" (Last night she said it would be too late to travel back!)
"And I need to get early tea"
"We'll sit in the kitchen with you while you prepare it"
There it was then, sorted!

They arrived at 3pm, busied in and settled with tea and copious amount of cake, in the living room. "Lovely cake"
"Would you like another piece?"
"Well I must think of my waist line"
"Sure?"
"Well may be just one more piece!"
I tell you, if I'd eaten that much cake I'd have been vomiting in the foot well of the car for most of the homeward journey!

We sat and small talked, me interspersing conversation with sneezing, sniffing and dripping into hankies! Auntie is a bit deaf now and mum can be embarrassingly bossy with her, but I don't think Auntie notices (or maybe she's just very polite!) After a while my mind wandered to thoughts of food preparation and wondering if it was bad manners to slip into the kitchen for a moment by myself as there was no way they were going to move off the comfy sofas this side of the weekend!! Just before 4 o clock (I discreetly kept an eye on the time via the DVD player) there was a brief break in conversation. I was about to say "Oh! Look at the time, I must go and fetch the children" when mum ( in the equivalent of a stage whisper) looks into her empty cup and then at me. "Would you like another cup of tea?" I ask (between gritted teeth!)
"Oh yes please" They chorused!

I rushed out of the door at 4.10, worried that my friend would be late for her appointment. Luckily I got there just in time and returned home 20 minutes later, by which time the cake plate was empty and they looked very happy!!

The usual conversations to the children about "Oh! haven't you grown" took place and Tall Girl and Small Sprog gallantly did their best to live up to the occasion. By a quarter to five we were all saying goodbye. We stood on the door step and waved. As mum reversed (at high speed) out of the drive she opened the car window and shouted "Lovely to see you! Hope we haven't delayed you too much!" And off they went in a cloud of dust!!

Well I've got it off my chest now! That's that. Until the next time!!