‘Twas Brillig*

We had our return trip to the safari park and the clutch didn’t burn out - although it had a good try. For some reason while waiting to go into the wolf enclosure he clutch pedal refused to come up and so we had an interesting burning smell. We were escorted back to the car park (although by this time the clutch pedal had come up), had our lunch and went on some rides (giving the clutch some time to cool down) and then we went round the park again. The car seems fine, but it’s obviously something to keep an eye on.

Soon, we are due to go camping. Friday night I thought I’d make sure the awning of our folding camping was properly packed and found a few holes in the roof (worrying, but repairable), Ruth then suggested that if something had been in the garage eating the awning that we should have a look at the main tent and we found holes in that too.

Fortunately my youngest brother has offered us the use of his tent, so we’re still going on holiday, but we’re equipped for a folding camper (which is possibly the closest a tent can come to a caravan) and are having to get lots of equipment (including a roof box).

This afternoon, we had a fun half hour salvaging equipment from inside the trailer - avoiding mouse droppings and dead baby mice (confirming the guilty party). We also found, once we’d got the tent opened up, so many holes that I’m now convinced (even if I could satisfactorily clean up all the mouse urine and droppings) the tent cannot be repaired.

Today saw some proper summer weather (well it wasn’t raining and I saw some blue sky), so after they’d cycled for a bit out front, I kicked [1] the kids out into the back garden whilst I sat outside finishing Harry Potter. It turns out a lot of small creatures had taken refuge in the sandpit so I unceremoniously dumped them on the patio and the kids had a great time watching them move away to safety[2]. The slug was an awful lot faster than the snail.

[1] Obviously not literally, but two of them would have much rather been playing Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

[2] They weren’t so keen on the whacking great spider.

The picture quality is not too great - I’m sure this (the phone I really want) would have been better.

There was a lunar eclipse tonight, I’ve never actually watched one developing before, but it was going to be too late for my eldest and so I spent some time outside videoing it and WOW! I knew the moon was going to end up orange, but I had no idea about how it would look getting there. To start with the moon looked like it was going from full to a (rotated - it was being removed from the bottom) crescent shape when in a matter of moments all the hidden parts came back again (only in orange), which was followed by a few minutes where the brighter slither of moon gradually disappeared.

On Thursday, in my continuing efforts to have a rubbish week I had a car accident. I was driving to work when a car came out of a side road, I braked and swerved - but not enough - and the end result is the bonnet and front left of the car are completely caved in (so much so that we couldn’t move the car from out of the road until a recovery truck arrived). According to the other driver the left indicator was on, although I don’t see how that would have happened since I was a good mile from the last left I’d done and the road I was on is fairly curvy which should have knocked it off even if I hadn’t noticed.

Anyway it is in the hands of the insurance company now.

Hopefully things will improve tomorrow with the delivery of our replacement new washing machine.

Our new washing machine has a dud circuit board, so we’re going to have to wait until Sunday for a new one.

The plan for last week was to have the tail end of half term off so the car could have its MOT on Wednesday and be repaired by Friday, and at the same time to get a new washing machine and oven delivered. Well so much for plans: the garage pushed the MOT back to Thursday and surprisingly the car passed - not surprising as in I knew anything that needed doing, but surprising as in it is 14 years old and I’m resigned to MOT failures (so that was good); the oven and washing machine were delivered, but since the fuse box is mislabelled (claiming the oven is on a ring, when it is on its own circuit) the people delivering wouldn’t install, and then I installed the washing machine and it comes up with an error code F-03 - so now I need to have Monday off to wait for a guy with a laptop to change the firmware in some way. The oven? turns out installation was a matter of eleven screws (doddle).

I spent last night wrapping presents and I had a realisation that if it could be arranged I would like all my Christmas presents to be from Father Christmas (figuratively, not literally ). I want to receive all my presents in the spirit in which they’ve been given, if somebody wants to buy me socks fine, but I don’t want to spend a moment on Christmas day thinking ill of others because of the gifts they’ve freely given me.

I’m a surprise loathing, list loving man so I’d still like to write lists of suggested presents, but I really would rather not know who has bought what.

Billy Bragg writing on the A13 and Shoeburyness (found via Luke):

Southend is the mecca of Essex, with its Golden Mile and longest pier in Britain. However, for my family, paradise was to be found beyond the arcades and winkle stalls, past the coloured lights that flashed out a welcome on even the wettest, windiest days. Go along the East Beach, past where Edwardian beach huts still stand in rows, through Thorpe Bay to the hamlet of Shoeburyness. Here, out of the mouth of the Thames Estuary, facing the North Sea itself, you will find the finest beach in the county.

It was here that I came with my parents as a boy to sit on towels on the sand and watch the Thames sailing barges lazily cross the horizon, listening out for the big Navy guns being tested on Foulness Island, eating sandwiches from Tupperware containers.

It’s funny, but I don’t remember ever going to Shoeburyness beach when I lived in Leigh-on-sea. The summer before we moved to Leigh we stayed in our caravan near there for a week and it rained which probably set my feelings. But once I had moved away and was a visitor it became the beach to take #1 to when he needed entertaining. Maybe, once my parents are back in the country, we’ll go there again…