gemandalex: The fun...

Well to start with the next Tuesday our very good friend came to visit. James Alex and Leon had lived together throughout their 3 years at university. In the first year I lived on the floor above them, got to know and love them all and then in the second year they moved into one house one Pershore Rd and I moved into another in Selly Oak. Since by then me and Al were seeing each other I carried on seeing quite a bit of the lads. After university Leon stayed in Brum but James went on to London, from there to Dubai after a few years and now he lives in Australia. Last time he and Zoe came back to Birmingham for a visit me and Al were away on holiday in Barcelona and were gutted to miss him. But that Tuesday I sat waiting in the Patrick Kavanagh pub in Mosely to see my 3 favourite boys in the same place at the same time for possibly the last time in... well who knows? Leon's moving to New Zealand, there's more chance they'll manage an antipodean catch up next time so Lord knows.

James Alex and Leon

Me and James and Al

It was gorgeous to see James again, and Zoe's just as nice as ever. But tinged with sadness cause 1 night is not enough! But still, the best thing is that we just picked up where we left off, as though no time had passed. After the pub we went to La Fibule for some dinner and then back to the pub for some after dinner chinwagging. Everyone was there; all the girls still left in Birmingham from Zoe's house were there and it's just such a pleasure to catch up with them all. So many of us had married and had children, I think James and Zoe said it's only their Birmingham friends who've all had babies so maybe there's something in the water! I eventually put my foot down and drove Al and Leon home as it was getting late for a 'school night' - but honestly I'd have stayed for hours more if I could have.

The next day Leon and Teresa's rent finished on their home in Kings Heath and they moved in with us. It was delightful to come home from work and have dinner together. Sian was already being bathed and put to bed when I got in so we had a grown up dinner the 4 of us; Al had had the day off so he'd cooked. And so began a very pleasurable 5 days of just hanging out together. I had the Thursday off so the next day it was me Leon Teresa and Sian, then we both went to work on Friday and then we had the weekend all together. It was like a mini holiday!

So they moved in and gave us all their condiments and herbs and spices so we spent Thursday morning just sorting through it all - it was AMAZING! The day before Al had gone to their allotment with Leon and they'd brought back kale, beans and beetroots and various vegetables that we cooked up over the course of the week. And they kept thanking us!!! I mean, honestly; we'ver never been so rich in either food or company I think and I really missed them when they moved out the following Monday.

Just waking up - Teresa and Sian

Sian propped up on our sofa

Me and Teresa went to visit her friend Becky to talk about nappies cause she used re-usable nappies and that's what I'd like to do also. It was really interesting and useful and I'm definitely confident enough to use them now. We watched True Grit together one night, sort of, being as parenthood took its toll on the Salters' ability to keep their eyes open ha ha! And on the Saturday the boys watched some footie together then we all went for a meal at a really nice steak house in Dickens Heath (Miller & Carver) before taking a stroll around Earlswood Lakes. It was good to get a breath of fresh air and some exercise after that steak!

Having lunch at a steak house

Walking by Earlswood Lakes, Leon and Al

Al and Sian

Leon and Teresa

On the Sunday Teresa and I took Sian to church and Alex took Leon to the first game of the Sunday League season. He's always so happy to be back playing in proper games! So me and Teresa caught up with Jo (from theatre, AKA Mickey the cop in The Odd Couple) and as soon as we gave her Sian she just played and sat with her for the whole service. Her grandsons were the same, both adorable boys and so sweet with Sian. They just played for the whole service, quietly and gently. Sian didn't make a peep except during the singing when she gave it a good go! We had a lovely service and afterwards introduced her to Rob the vicar. As ever his first instinct was to pick her up so Sian got another cuddle before we left the church and left the church having made friends with just about everyone! When we got home we weren't expecting to find Alex covered in blood and bandaged up, but that's what we got! His head had made contact with the goalie's elbow he thought and had left a deep-looking gash on one side of his forehead. A quick inspection and I drove him to Accident & Emergency which is where we stayed for the next few hours until they reassured us that he was alright, cleaned and glued him up and gave him a jab. Once they'd removed the bandage his headache and nausea stopped and I stopped worrying. All in all the staff at the new QE hospital were very good and very nice and all's well that ends well.

So we got back to the day's plan of having a bbq and invited the Collins family over. When Jill and Richard came over to pick up Emma and of course stayed for a while to say hello it really was a full house! The weather held and Nathan didn't set fire to the trees so all in all it was a success! It really was lovely. Emma took such a shine to Sian, and all the kids behaved impeckably around the cat - whose nerves by this time were a little raw (she's only just calming down...), and we eat like kings! And that was our last night together because next day the Salters moved out to go see Leon's nan and we got on with restoring the house to some order (I say 'we' but really it was mostly Alex who went on something of a cleaning frenzy)