Human Lifestyle

Slept in til 10ish, which was lovely.

However, got up immediately and got ready to have a day out with the family. We'd seen a piece in the Press about there being an 'Insect Week' event at Wyevale Garden Centre in Poppleton, so as it's on the Number 10 bus route which goes past our house, we decided to get the bus out there to see the display.

We got the after midday bus all the way to Poppleton and wandered round the garden centre.. which when it was Challis's, Gill worked at, and I also worked at the nearby Challis Plant Factory, where lots of little plants came in, and ceramic bowls, and mainly went out with three plants in a bowl... a tall one at the back, a stubby one at one side and a trailing one towards the front. I spent nearly two years there. Anyway, Challis was sold and it became Wyevale. It is a lot more than a garden centre, it sells all sorts of stuff including fish and pond stuff, all sorts of outdoor things.

We asked about the Insect Week display but nobody knew anything about it, however it didn't matter too much as we had an interesting time.

Then walked into Poppleton, and as it was beginning to rain, went to the Lord Collingwood pub for a bite of lunch and a drink. They had run out of the vegetarian option for lunch so we just had a portion of chips each and I had a perry (seemingly now called 'pear cider'), Gill had a black coffee and the boys had a fruit juice. We ate in the garden, under an umbrella on a picnic bench in the rain, and had a sandwich too, which we'd brought with us. It was a good little trip out, and we all enjoyed it.

I popped down to Country Fresh immediately we got back, before the shop closed, and bought some veg and picked up a box and a sack of compostables. Richard reminded me about the Falling Spikes gig tonight in the Edinburgh Arms.

When I got back, Gill asked me to go to the Co-op to buy some bread and dairy stuff, and when I got back there was a phone call from K, which was inconvenient. The children were playing havoc during this and when I came off the phone, I went into the room they were in and asked them to please be a bit more respectful towards their mother, whom they were disobeying and ignoring. One of my boys was very angry with me and when I went towards him to tell him to calm down and behave, BLOG CENSORED Parenting is not fun at the moment and our children don't often think about how they affect us. The initial fuss was apparently about homework which we want them to do and they do not want to do.

I went outside to let things calm down, and spent an hour weeding the front garden whilst thinking about how I could respond better to my son, and how to be a better parent generally. When I came back in, all was reasonably calm and I was able to tell my boys that I wasn't happy with my response to CENSORED, and I didn't respect myself for my reaction, nor their behaviour towards their mother or me. I apologised to Gill too, as I should really let her sort out the boys by herself if they are playing up... I shouldn't wade in and try to protect her. But it breaks my heart to hear/see her being treated so shabbily and I find it just about impossible to not come in and try to help her. Very difficult. What I'm supposed to do is to come in and ask her if she wants any help.

I had something to eat and did some computery stuff and at 9.30 went to the Edinburgh Arms to arrive just in time to catch The Falling Spikes do a brilliant set, an hour of loud multilayered guitars, 60s-style synth, drums and vocal... reminiscent of my favourite band, Spacemen 3. My friends Rich, Ivana, Dave and Andrew were there, and I chatted with a friendly woman called Tonya. Had one pint of cider.

Home just after 11, spent some time with Gill and at midnight, had a chat on Skype with K which helped us with our differences and difficulties.