Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

And so Christmas is over for another year and we are enjoying that wonderful but weird in-between period before New Year when there is still too much chocolate around but not enough motivation yet to throw the remainder away! In fact it's not too bad if I consider what the alternative could be. I've had the pleasure of lots of long walks with various friends and family over the past couple of weeks, and alongside that I've run or been to yoga every day this week. While I'm certainly not losing the pounds I should at least be maintaining a balance of sorts. Today has been a great example. Abi and I went to Westonbirt (along with about a million other people) and met Mum and Dad, Amanda, Alex and the boys and Simon and Audrey plus ALL the dogs - six of them in total! This is a massive thing for Bertie - he's not done something like this before so to go from the recent walking where we do meet people but in relatively small numbers, to Westonbirt on one of the busi

What a lovely couple of days we have had in Somerset. Of course, being us we booked for 4 nights and only managed 3, but it wouldn't be a Drinkwater holiday if we stayed all the way to the end! We drove down on the Monday (in 2 cars, Glenn with his bikes and our luggage in the van and us in the car with Bertie happily taking up the whole boot) and stopped at Mum and Dad's on the way for lunch and a walk. It's been so wet of late we knew that this would mean a muddy walk but that we could wash Bertie of then before heading onwards. We had lunch in front of the fire after admiring all the work that has taken place since we last visited - they really have transformed it beyond recognition in the relatively short time they have been there. The staircase is now in and looking as though it was always there, and this has served to completely re-orientate the house around a central point rather than the previous feeling that it was two houses bolted together (which it is I guess

So that's it - the work year has finished, as has the school year,and we are officially all on holiday.... poor Glenn, we'll be in his space for 3 whole weeks!! This week was supposed to be an easy glide path for me but it was nothing like that, I ended up working right up to the wire - something that is to be expected I guess given the circumstances. I did carve out one day to catch up with a few people but even this was a whirlwind of activity, with meetings in Reading in the morning, followed  by London at lunchtime with the plan of being back in Newbury by 4:30 to meet Glenn and the kids for dentist appointments and then on to a quick pizza and the senior school carol concert.  All was going well until there was a fatality on the line and so all trains were halted and I got home 2 hours later than planned. Oh well, kids were pleased not to have to go to the church and sing, and given half the girls then immediately went down with a sickness bug we may have dodged a  bul

The world is on FF - as I race towards the finish line at work the expectations do not seem to be diminishing and I feel compelled to make sure everything is closed out properly given I've been there such a short time. I'm leaving it all in a good place though and my work colleagues have been so kind to me - it's nice to know I've managed to make such a good impression even if it has been less than a year. In between this madness I have been loving the fact that both kids seem to be much more inclined to come walking with me at the moment - I guess coming out safe in the knowledge that we aren;t going to have some massive drama with Freya has suck in. Contrary to what you might think, it turns out Izzy loves coming for an early morning walk (setting her alarm at 6am in order to come with me me in the dark before school!!), while Abi hates getting up in the morning and enjoys the more leisurely walks of a weekend afternoon. Who knew this would be the case?! I just lo

How do I end up in these situations?!? The kids say I'm weak and it's probably true, although in my defence I do tend to think about my decisions in advance - honest! Both kids have been asking for ages whether they could have a reptile, and for ages I have said no. The main reason is that previously the request was for something like a Bearded Dragon, which just felt like it was going to be another bind on our time given they need daily care and we already have Bertie and the Guinea Pigs to look after. This had morphed into '"Maybe a corn snake", which I was also reluctant to agree to, mainly because I couldn't really see the point of something that sleeps for the vast majority of it's time. They kept asking and so I struck a deal - keep your bedrooms tidy until Christmas and we will see. Immediately both of them disappeared upstairs and soon I could hear sounds of a proper clear out and (miracle) the sound of the hoover! They clearly meant business a