...and.... Relax....

As Mrs S pulled up in the car for this latest visit, she joked "Stand by to repel boarders!" We finally managed it at around 2 pm yesterday, bidding a fond farewell to all the Silverwoods till next time. We love them all dearly but Mrs S will not mind me saying we also like the quiet bits in between. They are always easier in the event than in my worried forebodings. I see 4 'children' arriving and I worry about noisy mayhem, doors left open so that livestock escapes or is got at by dogs, livestock harassed by small hands and running legs wanting to do the 'petting zoo' thing, stuff damaged in high spirited play and so on - probably all the things that 'farmer', childless Uncles and Aunts all worry over.

In the event everyone is sensible and careful, no damage is done and all the livestock are unscathed and all my fears prove groundless. The 'children' are, of course, always older now than I remember; children I first knew at aged 4 tend to stay 4 in my head for years, till someone points out that they now have degrees and jobs and 4 year olds of their own! The 'girls' are now teenagers, happy to do 'cool' stuff, hanging out in the caravan, reading, watching movies and so on, and only sometimes reveal a younger side, J-M happy for hours to scratch up worms for Broody Betty and the ducklings with a piece of stick in the raised bed, Em-J sitting cross-legged by the pond identifying water beetles etc.

They are still young ones, though and it does get a bit loud and riotous as games of snap get tense and having your 'man' in Ludo knocked back to the start by your sister is more than a 7-year old boy can bear!

So, we loved having them and everybody had a ball, it was a brilliant family holiday a bit like the gatherings we used to do on the 8-10 berth narrow boats and Liz loves doing all the cooking and 'galley slave' stuff. We like to challenge the young taste buds a bit so they get given mainly the stuff we eat and have them try it rather than pandering to 'kids' food' like chips; we know that Mrs S does the same. We don't want to be like those Uncles and Aunts who fill the kids with sweeties and E-numbers and then hand them back all a-buzz. The young ones love to get involved in the picking of veg - we had an army of helpers stripping peas from the 'vine' and shelling the peas. They also get to keep, at Mrs S's insistence their 'chores', so most of the table laying, clearing, washing up, drying and putting away is done around us.

But now we're done and the Silverwoods have driven off down the lane and peace has returned to the small holding for a while. Bless them all, on their final morning, after breakfast Mrs S had them all doing a special blitz on the house - She had them stripping beds and clearing the caravan and moving stuff to the car while she whizzed a broom around the house. There is far less for us to do in turning the house around ready for the next guests, than there would have been. Tomorrow two friends from my 'Thames Barge' life arrive for the week, Dave and Julie B. We relaxed (and, in fact, gonked out) yesterday afternoon but today we are back in busy busy mode, especially Liz who is a whirlwind of cleaning, dusting and ironing. These two stay their week, then we have a week off followed fairly quickly by an overnight from Sparks's family again (and possibly Steak Lady and Theo), and then a visit from Diamond, John and Mazy. August is not going to be an easy month for us. Well, says Liz, we did buy a nice place in the country!

Take Three

Three strong contestants for the role of 'Cute Barge Dog' here. You may recognise Alfie, a yorkie who is part of the furniture on the SB Greta and visible on any visit to the Greta website. Alfie has been around ages and was there to welcome Megan and Haggis aboard when they chartered her for a day's sailing.

Alfie's new young companion is Ludo, tricolour short haired JR, here challenging the cameraman from the deck of Greta, which was moored alongside SB Cambria. Finally another old chum, Kess, faithful chum of one of Dad's fellow volunteers on Cambria, Mark.

Meanwhile, in Project Erroll land, it's all gone a bit quiet. Our most recent viewer was perhaps the most hopeful-sounding, a single middle aged lady with no small child-shaped encumbrances, who seemed delighted with the garden and was talking about bringing her grown-up son back to see the place a 2nd time. Despite themselves, Mum and Dad allowed a glimmer of hope to start to glow, but it was not to be - word came back that she'd decided it was too small.

I love the pictures in the brochure taken by the professional lensman with a very wide angle lens (certainly wider than Dad's widest lens, which is 18mm focal length) as they show the rooms as if they were massive, but I guess when people then see the spaces in real life they might be forgiven for being disappointed. For "We could hold a party for 50 in there!" read "We might manage a small soirée for 6 or 8 guests". Ah well, it's early days yet - we've only been on the market a few weeks.

22 days to go, and counting

Deefs

Now they're both at it!

Now they're both at it, Mum and Dad both leaving us abandoned indoors while they go off and enjoy a day's sailing on board the barge SB Greta, based in Whitstable. Haggis has been out, in the days of Megan and before my time, both of them getting on famously with black and tan barge-dog Alfie, but the theory is I'm a bit too skittish and would launch myself over the side. I was also a bit nervous when allowed to walk the decks of SB Cambria a couple of weeks back, and she was aground and in her dry dock (also aground!).

In fact, thinks Dad now after the event, it might not be so bad, as Alfie has chilled a lot with age and would suit Haggis as a companion - the two could metaphorically smoke their pipes and chat about sailorman days of yore like 2 old salts, and I could be shown the ropes by fresh new, spirited, shout-at-all-other-boats Jack Russell, "Ludo". She's pretty good at chasing towards the rail at the edge of the deck and stopping just in time. I'd soon pick it up. Back when H+M went though, they were invited out of the blue by skipper-owner, Steve, and Dad doesn't like to press him, so unless we get another unprompted invite, we are doomed to wait on shore while the humans sail away.

The other pic here, by the way, is Cambria's dry dock from the "wet" side - the starb'd quarter as seen from Greta in the creek.

Shucks

Deefer