September 4

This week, Ian was in Barcelona.

I expect he did some work. (He's back now - not "enjoying" the "referendum")

The kids and I had a very exciting (and late), night listening to Tim Peake (astronaut) at the University. He is so very great, and the kids were totally enraptured. Thea tried very hard to get her question answered, but there were a lot of questions. But it was definitely worth the late night.

(We got there early and used our science-communication contacts to get ourselves prime seats before they let most people in.)

To the children's glee, it was the annual school Sausage Sizzle the next day. We'd been making signs for the last few days, and then got to hang around the playground eating hot dogs and drinking beer while the children visited stalls (where they won piles of plastic tat) and played with their friends.

The weekend brought the sailing club course, and while Ian took Nathaniel to choir on Saturday, I went and taught people to sail in the sun. It was all very nice, even if I had to get into a silly RS Vision.

Day 2 was a great deal less picturesque, as Storm Brian approached (it's attacking our garden now). We did important sailing stuff like rescuing dead swans, de-ringing it and checking that it wasn't the victim of foul play (coz then we'd have to tell the Queen!).

Nathaniel went out solo, and put the adult novices to shame by sailing a full course, detecting and avoiding motor boats with aplomb, and generally proving himself to be a fine sailor. Fortunately, the senior instructor was watching, and so the only thing standing between him and a Stage 1 certificate is the fact that you have to buy them in packs of 10, so it's not really worth us getting any. He'll get his log book signed though, and lots of Stage 2 and 3 checked off.

Thea did some brilliant reach-reach tacking, and although she had someone crouched in the bottom, she didn't really need it. She was the star of land-based capsize drill and managed to persuade Nathaniel into playing too.

Adults went out in children's boats, and I had great fun around the corner where Storm Brian was well and truly on it's way. It's about the only situation where an optimist is worth sailing!