Halloween 2019

Today was by far our most low-key Halloween ever.
In fact, it was so low-key that I didn't even take any photos!
By the time I got home from work, Tryfs and Oscar had set out on foot to go trick-or-treating round the hood, with the same exact costumes they have been wearing for the past 5 years in a row.
Rhiannon and I quickly carved some pumpkins in a fairly slap-dash sort of way, and then put them out on the driveway to entice kids. In the end, hardly anyone came to the door and it was all a sort of non-event. Oh well. 

A long lost friend reunited

Our old friend and colleague John was in town this week and we managed to reunite with him for dinner on this rainy Saturday night. We picked him up from the Haywards Heath train station and then went to the Witch Inn for dinner.

We had pretty good food and a very enjoyable evening all around!
Then we dropped John back at the train station and headed home.

Chessington - Take 2

We've been here once before, on Easter Sunday, in what was a very long, hot, mainly unpleasant day. That particular day Emma complained and managed to get us all free tickets to return before November, and this was the day we chose! As it happens, today was an inset day for school, so it was perfect for skiving off at Chessington.

Although it was more crowded than we expected, we still had a good time. This is what Tryfan wanted to do for his birthday rather than having a party, so I bought Fast Track tickets for all 6 of us as a birthday present.

 It was a pretty fun day, actually, although it was reaaallly nice to get back into the car to drive home. And now it is the start of half term and the weekend as well! Good times all around.

Tryfan turns 12

Our little Tryfs has turned another year older and is now 12 years old!

And then in contrast I found this photo from nearly 8 years ago

We watched rugby in the morning (two games, back to back) and then Tryfan set up his new Playstation 4 with Rhodri while Rhiannon and I went to look after Tee for a couple of hours.

We went out to Chiquito's for dinner, then home to watch a movie and have some cake.

And so, at 12 years old, our Tryfan is...

- Considerate

- Helpful

- Big into reading

- Good at sports

- Forgetful (always leaving his stuff behind... its not a good thing)

- Loves playing video games (although his time allowed to play is very limited and quite often he gets banned)

- A good kid all around

- Good company in general and we love him

A new lampshade

Meanwhile, I've been working on a new lampshade.
We had a disastrous first attempt at this but now this one does have a beautiful stained glass effect on the ceiling.  It is made with string and a balloon, and the little squares of Quality Street chocolate cellophane wrappers.

Stable boots

Here is Rhiannon showing off her new stable boots while she prepares to do some poo picking in the field with Tee. Lou and I went for a walk in the forest and called by to visit her.  It was a beautiful Sunday morning and such a pleasure to walk over the forest with my dear friend Lou.

Crawley Town FC

In a bit of a spontaneous arrangement, Tryfs and I joined Cat and Bruno to watch the Crawley Town Football Club play against Colchester. At halftime Crawley was down 0-1 and then they came back to win 2-1, scoring 2 beautiful goals that were just so exciting to watch. In this day and age of digitized media, instant replay, slow motion, etc, it is refreshing and so fun to be in the moment with none of that. If you are not watching the game, you've missed the beautiful play and its never coming back. This afternoon was rainy and windy with mild temps, although it does feel quite chilly after just sitting there.
What I especially love are the chants that each time has about specific players, like "We've got Morris in our goal" to the tune of "Whole world in His hands". It just makes me laugh, and its so funny to shout and chant along with my friend Cat and our boys.  We had to scoot home straight afterwards, though now I can't remember why...
In the meantime, Rhodri and Rhiannon had been shopping to buy some stable boots for her to use while she is looking after Tee.

Friday nights and beyond

Since the start of school in September, we have had a sort of 'normal' start to the weekend where Sophie and Oscar come over to have dinner and stay the night. Then in the morning, Sophie and Rhiannon cook bacon to then sell as 'bacon butties' at the Football Cafe in Forest Row.

They all look pretty cute lined up at the breakfast bar, eating pizza and being cheeky.

Mornings with my girl

During the week, Rhiannon and I are the first to wake up and start the day. 

I treasure these brief morning moments, even though we are often both a bit grouchy and ruffled. We shared a beautiful sunrise together today. 

A week in Paris

This past week I've been in Paris for work.
The week started on Sunday evening when I drove Michel to the airport. We had flights at the same time, so we got to hang out and reflect on the weekend before saying goodbye.






I had a late night arrival into Paris, then an hour drive to Melun. Monday through Wednesday were spent there in Melun, then on Thursday morning the group of 3 of us traveled into Paris city center to spent the remainder of the week.

It was a beautiful autumnal stretch of days.

One of the highlights was seeing Flo for dinner on Thursday night

Today (Friday) I left the office late afternoon but not before a team field trip up to the top floor of our office building where there is a nice terrace with a view of the Eiffel Tower. It was really nice to arrive home this evening. In fact, Rhodri ended up going into London tonight to meet some friends, so I got to just drive the car home myself from the train station. That was handy. And now its the weekend!