Todaythe hottest day of the yearwe chose to visit family in Oxfordshire for a barbecuea thinly veiled excuse for us to get together. Throughout most of my childhood most of us lived within a few miles of each othergrandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. About 10 years ago everybody migrated on the four winds and settled in different corners of the country.
Today was fun. I really should have taken a lot more photos. The children got to feed carrots and polo mints to the horses (my aunt has two horses), we had a fantastic barbecue, the sun shone (and cooked us all to a crisp), and the kids got to visit the best playpark I have ever seen.
One of the highlights of the day for me was walking around the yard of their 400 year old house with Little Miss 7, remembering how it had been when I was her ageremembering the rows of vegetables, the chicken run, the rusted out lorry parked in the corner that we played on during endless summers, the barn with the inspection pit, playing with hay bails in the summer and being told off for it, the old hand cranked gas pump, brushing the horses in the stables, and riding on a pony and trap with my grandadFantastic memories. I probably bored Little Miss 7 to tears. None of the things I pointed to around the yard exist any morewe used our imagination as I gesticulated wildly, and ran back and forth, pointing at fresh airWhile writing this, the children are home, bathed, and in bed. W is crashed out in the lounge with a glass of something cold and alcoholic, and I’m about to join her.p.s. my cousin joined twittergo add her, encourage her, and don’t ask her about me getting hilariously drunk or going out with different girls every week when I was young / single / an idiot