I’m at Weeza’s house today because Zerlina is at school. Gus and I will pick her up soon and then head for home.

They’ve lived in their present house for about a year and a half now and it’s looking lovely, though not finished yet. Russell’s and my housewarming present to them was a beautiful oak floor for the living room. It’s a huge room, some 27 feet by 32 feet. They project films onto one end wall for a fabulous home cinema.  There were three bedrooms upstairs with en suite bathrooms – that is, two of them are small shower rooms – and they’ve added two more bedrooms, a big family bathroom, an airing cupboard and landing.  They had to add Velux windows into the sloping roof as it wasn’t practicable to put in new windows into the walls. The previous owner had done no decorating nor laid floors, though he had owned the place for eight years and it was pretty messy.  They hastily painted two bedrooms and put rugs down when they moved in and did the downstairs work first, then the new rooms, so the original bedrooms need to be decorated properly and carpeted next.  They’re doing a lot of the work themselves – not the structural work but the finishing – and have become pretty good at tiling.

I can’t help wondering where I will live in the long term. I keep sneaking looks at estate agents online, though it would be unfortunate if I found my dream house in the ideal location, because I’m nowhere near moving yet.  I felt very unsettled to start with but, not surprisingly, I’m more relaxed now, especially because managing my present home is rather easier than I expected. There’s a lot to think about but the winter was fine and, although I’m very busy and have been away rather a lot, I’ve still got extra work done.  In truth, it’s tempting to keep putting off plans to move, but I know I’ll regret it in a few years’ time if I do that. There’s a time to stay still and consider options and a time to take the plunge and I don’t want to look back in another ten or fifteen years and wish I’d made a different decision.  By then, either I’d feel I’d left it too late and could not cope with a new start or else have a hasty move forced on me if I couldn’t cope with the place.

I thought I’d published that several hours ago, but it’s still in the draft folder so I’ll add to it,

When we arrived at school, Zerlina told me that we were taking home the school hamster. “Did you tell her that mummy and daddy are away this weekend?” It seems that she did…anyway, the very nice teacher came to ask me if it was all right and it was.  So we loaded Mr Munchkin in his cage into the car and headed for home.

My grandchildren run rings around me, and that’s quite all right.  It’s what I’m there for in a sense, though I’m quite firm when I feel the need. And I would never go against my children’s wishes, because my mother did and it was very frustrating.  They’re in charge, not me.

Yet I am putty in their hands really, which is why we ended up in Macdonalds this evening.  They mostly eat very healthily and well and they enjoy good food.  So I’m fine about indulgence once in a while.  It seems that MacD gives children a bag of fruit on a Friday now – and they both tucked into their apple and grapes with gusto after they’d packed away their Happy Meals.

There’s a lot on and I expect I’ll be able to tell you most of it in due course.  For now, things look better for friends than they did a couple of days ago and that’s good enough news for now.