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Animal circus

It's bank holiday again and this time it's bloody freezing - a far cry from the Easter weekend - how a few weeks can change things! The weather looks lovely from inside, bright and sunny, then you get outside and its like winter. I've put the heating back on - not good! It also means I've done hardly anything in the garden, although Larry the Lawnmower means it's looking great regardless. 

The weekend is a bit overshadowed by the fact that I have to fly to the US tomorrow for work which is a bit of a pain. I'm off to Miami this time, somewhere I've never been, so I'm hoping that I might manage to get a hour or two to actually look around. The hotel is not a millions miles from the beach so I might even get to dip my toes in the water, you never know.

In the meantime the kids have got an extra day off school and so Glenn has to make sure they are kept amused for the day. In reality this means one of two things. Either they will spend the day with their friends having planned it of their own accord, or they will go motor biking on Salisbury Plain. If it's the former then undoubtedly that means Izzy will be with Amber and and Abi will be with Mia. At least we know where they be and we can be reasonably assured that although they will spend half of it on iPads, they will at least be talking directly to a real person as they do it - small mercies!

The kids don't seem that bothered that I'm away again, Abi has refused to speak to me unless I persuade Glenn to allow her to start up a petting zoo, and Izzy said "I'll miss you but the best way to deal with that is not to speak to you" so at least I'm not heading out the door expecting to hear from them every 5 mins. 

The pet thing has been an ongoing discussion all weekend. Abi is adamant that having proved how responsible she is with the guinea pigs (which she has been), she should now be allowed a whole new gang of pets. On Friday it was a cat (driven somewhat by the fact that the feral cats which live near Mia abandoned a litter of tiny kittens which have been taken to the vet but not before Abi saw them), and this has subsequently morphed into the current favourite, a pair of rats. Not happening. It's not that I don't think she could look after them, but more that quite frankly it's going to be difficult enough for us ever to go away again with 2 dogs and 2 guinea pigs, the last thing we need is a couple of rats to add to the circus!

Izzy meanwhile has weighed up the pleasure of small animals with the reality of having to get out of bed earlier at the weekends than she would like to and decided that it's not really for her. She is still playing with the guinea pigs and feeding them, but has negotiated with Abi that she should do the afternoon slot. This all works perfectly until Abi is away and then Izzy goes into shock at the thought of being up before 10am on a weekend - just not happening! Good job I've got into the habit of picking them a handful of dandelion leaves on the way back from my morning dog walk - a mother's job is never done when it comes to feeding her extended tribe! 

Right, off to sort out some packing and get my head around the travel - at least it's just me I have to think about, makes it much easier.


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