A quiet week

Sharon and the boys are due back this afternoon, just before tea. I've had a week of peace and quiet, doing my own thing, spending a little longer at work, cooking a lot (if no-one's there to feed me I'd better get on with it myself), watching sport on the telly and getting annoyed at the weather. It's tipping down again, the latest in a week's worth of heavy showers that kept me from doing anything useful outdoors.

The boys seem to have had a great time despite the weather and despite the fact that the planned extension to Sean and Finn's holiday has had to be cut short due to Olivia still being in hospital. It just isn't cost effective to change the name on the flight but that's RyanAir for you. Sharon had a great Friday afternoon down in Claregalway where the big boys got on famously with Hannah and her hamster and Rowan hit it off with "Postman" Pat ("hello man"). Sharon just enjoyed the chat with Margaret and Norrie. The overnight stay in Tuam was a bit more fraught as Rowan just did not settle all night. He has another chest infection so has yet more penicillin to take. You wonder if he'll be antibiotic-resistant by the age of five. A visit to Joe Gormley, now happily holding court full time in a care home, completed the Galway excursion.

My weekend was rather tedious as I attempted a general tidy-up and re-uniting of the pieces of toys that have been distributed between the main play areas of the house whilst also trying to sort out the boys' clothes, re-locating the stored clothes from the front attic to the rear attic. This was a dusty and thankless endeavour. In the amount of time I have wasted over the last few years seeking faded labels on a myriad of shorts, trousers, t-shirts, vest and jumpers in an attempt to categorise them for storage or return them to their rightful owners after washing I could have done something far more useful like sit down and watch a five-day Test match end-to-end. Still, I've done it once more and have the runny nose to prove it.

So, it's been quiet, but I'm looking forward to everyone coming home and driving me daft once more. At the moment, Sharon has texted to say Rowan is terrorising a three-year-old who was bullying other kids in the play area of the boat and is being the noisiest child by far. I suspect the peace is about to be shattered!