Monday 25 May 2009

Limping over the finish line

As Sharon gets closer to her due date, so the days seem to roll by more slowly. She is in a lot of pain with SPD to the extent that managing the stairs is now a once-a-day activity, ideally avoided at all costs. Being on her feet, sitting down, even lying down: nothing seems to provide much relief. After a coffee at the Gyle last Thursday she rose to go and could barely walk with the pain. Not that the boys are being particularly understanding. Huffing and puffing, rolling their eyes and being downright defiant is the norm with occasional bursts of helping Sharon by picking up things and doing jobs the exception.

Susan and Dermot have beaten us to the drop, as it were, with the arrival of their fourth (a second boy) on Saturday 23rd. Congratulations! Shauna was born four days after Sean so we will have managed eight children between us in just over 6.5 years.

Yesterday was a real sunny summer's day so I took the boys to Saughton Park for a play and a picnic. I went last weekend with Rowan and Finn and discovered the gardens properly for the first time. Sadly, this week, all the tulips had been removed - I think it is more of a spring garden - but we sat in a real sun-trap to have our soup and sandwiches. Sharon joined us eventually, after meeting Corinna for a coffee in town. Once home, the boys had more of a runaround in the garden while I weeded the beds and cut the grass.

Sharon isn't the only one limping over the finishing line. St.Mirren avoided relegation by 2 goals on Saturday, losing to Hamilton 1-0. If we'd lost 3-0 they'd have gone down instead of Inverness who lost 1-0 at home to Falkirk. A very poor finish to the season saw Saints lose to 4 of the 5 teams in the bottom half, with only the victory over Falkirk last week keeping them up. There's always next season. Competitively, Standard Life's cricket season is almost over too. We've lost our first three games, heavily, and are now out of two of the three competitions in which we play. My enthusiasm for playing is at a low ebb!

Sharon and I had a rare evening out on Saturday, dining with the Munros at Howies in Bruntsfield. The food was fine, if a bit safe in its flavours, more like good home-cooked food, but we enjoyed gettnig out for chat and a drink.

No comments: