Rawhideout

If you don’t log out and have ticked the ‘remember me’ box, you shouldn’t have any difficulty with commenting.  If you do get signed out, however, I suggest you change your password to one of your choice.  For this, you’ll need the site admin, either under the ‘Razor-blade of Life’ in the bar at the top left next to the W or else the Meta widget low down on the right-hand sidebar.  Both will take you to a page offering you the option of changing your password.  Something easy to remember, but with a symbol or two (&£@($* sort of thing) to make it impossible to be discovered.

I’ve been updating all my passwords as I’ve needed to use them recently, to add symbols.  I heard a very depressing piece on the radio the other week, saying how computer programmes can go through all combinations of letters plus numbers (if the length of the password is known, I suppose) and, although I already used the capital, lowercase and number combination, I have complicated them a little bit more.

Anyway, I do apologise for the trouble some of you have had and we’ll get it ironed out.  I’ve had a few attempts at posting spam already, but still have my nose in front so far.

We have just got back from Norwich, where we’ve been babysitting for Weeza and Phil, who had an appointment with their architect about the new house.  They were very cheered by his suggestions for upstairs, where the layout is fine as far as it goes, but wastes a lot of space with a very large landing, giving them only three bedrooms.  They had been thinking of juggling in more rooms, but he’s suggested a different layout altogether, which will be much better.

In the meantime, we were enjoying ourselves too.  I read to Zerlina, a book I passed on a few weeks ago called Harvey’s Hideout, by Russell Hoban, which used to be Ro’s when he was a child and which Zerlina likes as much as he did.  After she was in bed, I came down to cook our dinner but then heard Gus call out, so went to comfort him.  He seemed okay and we were just eating when he appeared downstairs – which doesn’t normally happen, they’re both very good about staying in bed … but rules vary a bit when parents are safely out of the way.  So I sat him on my knee and offered him pizza and salad, to his great pleasure.  And then we talked about his birthday next week and I played the iBirthday app for him.  In bed, I sang Happy Birthday and he had a big grin on his face.

Later, we were nearly home on a short cut along a country road when a Landrover came towards us flashing its lights.  So I slowed down and saw two people with torches ahead.  It was right by a dairy farm and we knew at once what must have happened: cows out on the road.  I drove very slowly, caught up with them and asked if I should turn round – they said there was no need but I might find myself among ten or so cows.  Not wanting to risk driving them towards the main road, I stopped the car and waited and five minutes later they came back of their own accord.  I turned off the engine and they decided we were no threat and shambled past, some on each side of the car.  We felt very sympathetic towards the farmer, if a few cows lean hard enough, it’s very possible to find the weak spots in a fence and there’s not a lot of fresh grass on most of the fields with the dry weather we’ve had.

7 comments on “Rawhideout

  1. kipper

    Ooh looking forward to more details on the plans. Gus is one smart boy, he got to spend extra time with his grandparents and have pizza!
    Earlier this year I found a copy of Wind in the Willows at a yard sale and had to buy it. It was a real pleasure to have the neighbor kids over and reading a book to them that I remember from my own childhood.

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  2. Mike and Ann

    Our children/grandchildren always seemed to think that the fact that the book was being read had belonged to their parents/grandparents, etc., was a guarantee of its excellence/interest. And to my mind, they were right. If a book has been loved for a generation or three, it must mean that it’s a good one of its kind.

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  3. Mike and Ann

    P.s. Should add that you do seem to have ironed out any difficulties re comments. I’m afraid I’m pretty ham fisted about new tech., and if I can do it, anyone………..

    Reply
  4. Z Post author

    Weeza recently read The BFG to Zerlina who loved it and is now on a Roald Dahl jag, and W is so pleased. It was because of this that I looked out lots of old books for them – I remember writing about it at the time. And yes, Mike, and there’s something particularly special about the book itself being the original, as well as a much-loved story.

    Thank you, Rog, after my Z bites dog fail, I had to try harder.

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  5. PixieMum

    Not great literature perhaps, but historically interesting, I liked the Milly Molly Mandy stories and introduced Martha to them at about age six. She read them herself, I remember her coming to me asking what “Air-rands” were, she’d not come across errands before. She was a bit horrified about M-M-M being sent shopping at about age 6 or 7. I had to explain that I was out alone from seven or eight and would go shopping or to the library alone, now 10 seems the minimum age to go out alone even for a short walk to school or shops.

    Another shared favourite was The Family from One End Street, this was the first Carnegie Medal winner, although I never thought the sequels were as good.

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  6. Z Post author

    Yes, I liked MMM too, though it seemed a bit old fashioned even then, and also the Family from One End Street. I know I wrote a post about favourite books once, but maybe I will revisit, I’m sure I didn’t mention a quarter of them.

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