26th Nov Carol's birthday and friend to dinner

It's Thanksgiving in the USA today but it's also Carol's birthday. She started work teaching a High School choir at 7.30am and then if that wasn't bad enough Simon and I rang and sung Happy Birthday to her - that must have been a shocker for someone who is musical! After the school run I had a good catchup with Cheryl and Seb. Unfortunately he had fallen in the playground earlier so his face was swollen and grazed. He was making Mark a Coke and lime as he had just in from work, so I did some FaceTime tuition on cutting and squeezing a lime, fun.

The weather this week has been beautiful, I had thought I would go and swim/sunbathe at Ocean Spa. However I had a message that Carol would like me to join her and the family for lunch, how thoughtful. Her Mum Wendy picked me up and we went to a local garden centre that does tasty food. For the briefest moment I was going to have a salad but then my eyes fell on the custard slices, so no contest.

Carol made a big claim that these are the best slices in the world but what she didn't realise is that I am an authority on them. You see when I was little my Gramp used to have an allotment (they were started up by local governments to increase food production during the war and are still popular in some areas today). The men in the terraced streets around where I lived would spend hours on their 'plots' and so my Nan and the other wives decided they would meet there regularly as well.

There was a big hut where the women met and they used to drink tea and eat custard (vanilla) slices - it was known as the Vanilla Club. My sisters and I were therefore initiated into the art of eating these scummy slices at an early age. Right through my life I have eaten them whenever they are on the menu in a cafe. Now you understand why I was ready to challenge Carol's claim if necessary. In the event she was right, it was absolutely divine. 

Wendy kindly took me to another garden centre after lunch and I helped her pick plants for in the 9 pots she has beautifully decorated for her sewing class. We then went back to her stylish retirement bungalow for a cold drink whiere we happily chatted, getting to know a little bit about one another. It was then time to pick up Nicholas and Amos from school. 

The two of them get on brilliantly so were no trouble, they played on the trampoline, on the iPad and watched their favourite programmes til it was time for us to get pizza, their choice. We had it with homemade chips and salad. They were such good company at the meal table telling me all sorts of ridiculous things. We walked Amos home for 7.30pm and then Nicholas had a relaxing bath because he's off to Cub Camp tomorrow. 

Simon worked later as he has a school inspection starting on Mon. When he got in we had our usual garden cuppa before he showered and got ready for a date night, of a meal and the cinema, with Carol. It was wonderful for me to be a part of her celebrations today and facilitate their quality couple time.