A Day at the Races - 6th July

It was Ladies Day at Sandown Park yesterday, and as a treat we had a works day out at the races. (By Ladies Day, I believe they meant Frankie Dettori was racing and we are supposed to like him. He makes pizzas right?)

Since it was Ladies Day, we took the opportunity to put on our frocks and heels for the day. And it was actually nice weather for once, not something you can say often these days.









Now we thought we'd put in an effort... Clearly not as much as some.



Since last time we came here I won zip all, this time I studied the "form" beforehand. I actually managed to pick out some of the front runners. I'm not great at gambling so I only went for each way bets. And as each horse that I bet on went from leading the race to being passed in the final furlong, at least I clawed back a few pence.

Dad's 60th Birthday

Me, Caz and Adam headed to Wrenbury for my Dad's 60th this weekend. An excuse for a family party, a few beers and plenty of sandwiches, sausage rolls and cake.

I made a Birthday card to "prove" that Dad was older than the 60 he claimed to be. Here is one of the pictures from it.



Our trip happened to coincide with Wrenbury's Scarecrow Trail. Here was one of my families entries.

Barbecue Time

We thought we should give our new barbecue it's maiden voyage whilst the sun was still shining. Rain was on it's way. A Gas BBQ - 3 burner with a side burner - it's a proper BBQ. No fiddling with charcoal and lighter fluid.

Ali and Craig said they didn't mind being the guinea pigs for our cooking. We bought shedloads of fish, meat, and drink. With the family motto adhered to, "if it's brown it's done, if it's black it's buggered," it all seemed to go ok. And a valiant effort was made by everyone in ploughing through it all.

Once we could eat no more, the boys went off to see if there was any fire making equipment around the school. They returned with not one but two metal bins, and a stack of wood, mostly from the old furniture the school had dumped at the bottom of the field.

Tim with the back of his entertainment unit, now surplus to requirements.

Ali toasting her backside.

City folk mistaking a garden rake for some form of musical instrument.

At 11pm we were feeling a little tired, so by way of relaxing we headed to the school pool for a couple of hours. 4 canoes, a game of water polo, and some floating around on water noodles later we were refreshed enough to carry on drinking for a few more hours. There is nothing like having a proper swimming pool all to yourselves, for free.

And so we sat outside until 3 or 4 in the morning , drinking and poking the fire occasionally until the rain came. The fire was that succesful that 12 hours of solid rain later the fire managed to start up again all by itself...