244. A' Challuinn

They’ve been back home, happily reunited, bonding over the blue flames of the Christmas pudding, over the cinnamon bun and the venison pie.

So we’re done with the bonding. And suddenly they scatter in four different directions. I should have named them North, East, South and West.

The front door is back to its revolving-door status.

‘I’m off!’

‘I’m back!’

‘I’m here!’

‘I’m going!’

‘See you!’

‘Hello!’

‘I’m late!’

‘I’ve missed my train!’

Lunch for 3. Dinner for 6. Spare cash. Lunch for 5 and dinner for 4. Booking train tickets online as part of an emergency recovery procedure for someone stranded in a station somewhere. No more potatoes. Need to go shopping. Pie in the oven. Pie all gone. Washing machine having a burn-out. If this keeps on for much longer I will be ready to run a small hotel soon. Might not be a bad idea. Paying customers sound good to me.

My husband is back into lockdown mode, surfing the web while drinking his cup of tea, buying bits and bobs for his vehicle project and browsing sites advertising adventure holidays - for two - in deserted spots far away from here.

‘It’s been almost two years.’

Then he locks himself up in the atelier and bangs away at things all afternoon. The TGA! Can I even remember what these letters stands for? Am I going to have to read my own blog to find out about this? I could: this is the end of the year and the time to assess things. The kids don’t like the word ‘assess’. All they want to assess is which party to go.

This constant whirlwind is getting to me. The moment they’ve all disappeared up the stairs or goodness knows where else and I am left alone with my husband, I ask him:

‘So did you get that? Who’s going where?’

‘I haven’t got a clue.’

I sigh heavily. There are two of us and we cannot keep up.

‘Never mind.’

Listening to all this has turned my mind onto the setting ‘getting away from it all’ and a very big grin appears on my face.

My husband raises one eyebrow and gives me an inquisitive look.

‘What’s funny?’

‘I’ve got an idea for New Year. A brilliant one. And … you’re going to absolutely love it.’