At least I didn't burn the house down!

While it's definitely a lot cooler here - obviously, it's nearly November - it's still pretty mild for the time of year. We've had a couple of days where it rained but other than that it has been pretty nice (to my weird taste I suppose) and with that I've gotten my energy back and quite a lot done! On Monday Jen was caught short for baby-sitting again as the daycare has this weird (rip-off, in my opinion) thing where eight days of the year parents are expected to find alternative arrangements for their children or they will pay double for the day! Say what??? You've paid for it but eight days a year you have to make other arrangements??? Sounds like a money-spinning exercise to me! Anyway, after yoga in the morning I drove straight over there to keep Charlie for the afternoon while Jen went to work. He was much better after his rotten weekend the week before but the reverse side of that coin is that he was full of beans. Not that I'm complaining, but all of a sudden I was really feeling my age!! He kept playing his favourite songs and played Allez croco, allez croco, allez crocodile over and over again ad nauseum, all the while we had to jump around like crocodiles! After about the 20th time he said "nanny watch, I think I'm going to jump now" - and here's me thinking "mate, I was ready to jump half an hour ago"!!! Still he was good and I had him nicely wound up by the time Jordan and Jen got home around six!

After that it was off to Monday night sewing, so all-in-all a busy day for me. As I was driving there I spotted a young woman pushing one of those very high double strollers (for young babies) and saw that she also had another baby strapped to her chest, so triplets!!! Yikes! You've got to be young to do that, but I suppose if they're your children you do get into a routine, even if it's still hard work. When I was still working I remember seeing a young woman getting on the bus with triplet baby girls and watched them grow over the last few years before I retired. She had her act down pat but hats off to anyone that can pull that off!

I mentioned above that I'd been getting quite a lot done round here, but there have been a couple of things that've beaten me, all the same. Some time ago I bought a chainsaw with the intention of chopping up all the wood that has been downstairs in my cellar since goodness knows when. Well I got it assembled but obviously hadn't put the chain on tight enough (I had protective gear on), so after a couple of goes decided to give up on that and have ordered a much smaller saw which should allow me to get through some of the smaller pieces at least. I had an insert installed in my fireplace in June (open fireplaces are illegal here now) and because of the way my chimney is built, I had to have the smallest one they had available - hence the necessity of cutting the logs up. Last night I decided it was time to try it out after I'd been a bit hesitant about it as the interior looked like it was made out of cardboard. It obviously wasn't and I soon had a decent little fire going now I've got the hang of it which, while it wouldn't be enough to heat the whole house, would certainly be quite pleasant on the rare occasions I actually sit downstairs (I'm thinking of everyone opening their presents on Christmas day)! One thing that does have me beaten (for the time being) is my old BBQ. I emptied my entire car out the other day, laid the back seats down and lugged that bloody thing around to the boot - and turns out it's probably an inch short on both sides to get it into the car. Bugger, but I'm still not giving up! When I've got more stuff sorted I'll probably rent a small van and lug the whole lot down to the recycling centre - that is if I can't find anyone going that way beforehand!

I've also made quite a bit of headway on Christmas shopping, believe it or not, because as I think of something I drop into an online basket (not necessarily Amazon) and once I've made my mind up I just send off for it. In fact, I follow Very British Problems on FB and for the second time have ordered stuff from them as I like their sense of humour (last time I ordered their bestseller "Born to be Mild" and the kids and I got a good laugh out of it)! I know stereotypes exist for a reason but when I find myself laughing at some of the daft stuff they post I realize I am actually a stereotype myself. One of the most recent things they posted on FB was "if you've just learned that a meteor the size of Wales is heading for earth right this minute, what would be your first thought"? By the time I saw it there were over 500 comments, but one that really tickled me was "oof, thank god I got the bins put out in time"! I know, I'm a stereotype!

I don't know if anyone else has noticed but Windows update number whatever seems to have permanently uploaded Bing onto my computer, and even though I've gone through all the "how to disable/delete" advice, I can't get rid of the bloody thing. If I go anywhere near the top right-hand side of my computer, Bing jumps out and asks if I would like to chat with AI??? No, actually, I just wish you'd bugger off! Despite that I seem to be having a massive clean up session on my phone and computer, and last night deleted about 400 photos from iCloud, about another 100 off my computer and phone and believe it or not deleted around 650 subscriptions to Youtube channels! I mean how the hell did I ever get subscribed to over 700 Youtube channels, one of which was called something like "Canadian tax planning"???? I've never been to Canada, unless you count changing planes at Toronto airport one time. It took me ages to unsubscribe from so many but boy was it worth it!

And finally, I notice - in the British press at least - that they are singing the praises of the French Interior Minister who has promised on his honour and under his complete responsibility to immediately round up and deport all illegal immigrants on security watch in the wake of the recent stabbing of a high school teacher by a Chechen teenager who, like two of his brothers, was also on the security watch list. He swears "on his honour" that they and their ilk will be deported and the British media are singing the praises of this chest-thumping Tarzan. Trouble is, as is well known already, there is no way it will happen. Indeed they tried to deport this particular young man a few years ago and it was the then Interior Minister who blocked it. And even if it got that far he knows damn well the European Court of Human Rights will prevent it, so the minister (who is also under investigation for whatever, I believe) can stop posturing as he knows this particular young man is going nowhere! Wish there was a button to unsubscribe here as I can't bear him!