Get your flags out for the lads! After my wife put them up, I foolishly opened the windows to let some air in (to be fair, it has been very warm recently) and one of the flags fluttered away. Like Reuben last night, who escaped out of the living room window, it didn’t get very far. Both flag and house cat are now back where they belong.
Reuben had had enough of our crap and stealthily sneaked out of the living room window we’d left ajar given the sultry conditions. He’s lucky I bothered to even look for him in the first place; I just happened to notice that he wasn’t in his regular spot when I came down from doing story time. I opened the front door, peered round the corner and there he was, sat looking into the long grass with an expression of incredulity having possibly seen the hedgehog that visits us each night walking round the place like he owns it (which he does).
It was absolute carnage this morning as our under-8s found themselves 6-0 down before they mounted a spirited comeback. Unfortunately, the damage was done early on, and so it’s possibly the only time I’ll use the word ‘respectable’ to describe a 9-6 defeat.
At one point I thought it was going to be telephone numbers, but after such a disastrous start our lads settled into it and kept chipping away at the deficit. I’d love to say it had something to do with my inspired team talks, but at each quarter break I was panicking trying to work out the logistics of giving each of our nine players an equal amount of game time, so I actually said very little to them.
I had flashbacks of our under-7 season when we got roundly trounced just about every week (once we lost 22-0). It did feel like it was going that way to begin with, but I like to look at this positively and say that, from the 13th minute onwards, we won today’s match 6-3. Let’s say the game was only the final 27 minutes, cos that’s the real quiz.
No one saw that result coming, not even Reuben (because I didn’t get him to predict it. Maybe I should’ve).
After taking our son play football in very humid conditions this morning, we then headed to Harewood House to take part in the annual inflatable 5k race. He fell asleep very quickly tonight!
Mercifully there was a breeze on a very warm day. Five kilometres is a remarkably long way when you haven’t properly exercised for years. Some of the inflatables that are dotted around the course are pretty easy to navigate, while others really sap the energy out of you. I’ve been carrying an injury to my left leg for the past three or four years and it hampered me more than it did when I previously ran the course.
Still, I got my medal! Another achievement to add to my CV.
Sweaty and achy, we fully deserved our evening meal at Miller & Carter, which my wife had thoughtfully booked in the week. It was a rare evening out for the three of us — which ended in the McDonald’s drive thru as we could get a McFlurry each for the same price as one dessert at the restaurant.