Taking into account the muscle strains, backaches, stiffness and general lethargy that's affecting all within our house after a jam packed weekend the thought prevails that we are merely a couple of care workers and a pot of Horlicks away from being rebranded as an Old Folks Home.
The causes of our individual moans are variable, yet equally well founded. Carole endured back to back fitness classes today after an already partaking in similar activities yesterday, Isis and Sima continue to recover from their infections and operations respectively, while Luca and I endured many (too many) an hour driving aimlessly around.
To explain further, this weekend was supposed to be the weekend where I - finally - bought myself a new car. However, my intentions were clearly not strong enough to defy fate, and as I type this (it's 11.07pm on Sunday night) my status still remains as a continuing incumbent of local Aberdeenshire "shit-shovel" services (to slightly misquote "Viz" magazines public transport parlance).
As ever I drift. To get back to the main point - aches and pains for those of you not paying attention - I spent over 12 hours yesterday driving round Scotlands Central Belt (with an uncomplaining little brother in tow) searching for a perfect car with a budget of 31 pence and a packet of Maltesers. Yes, as always my expectations outstrip my capabilities! Suffice to say at the end of the day our backs ached worse than Mrs John Prescotts migraine on Valentines Night.
If you're keeping up with this illegible jumble of words, you'll have noticed that Luca was also forced to endure excessive driving. This is because after Ross and my fruitless (individually targeted) search on Saturday I changed tack on Sunday and conducted an entirely random search of Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire garages. Twenty one garages I may add! As I decided Ross had endured enough the previous day I instead enlisted the company of Luca. His knowledge of car engines/electrics/bodywork/etc is admittedly inferior to that of his uncle but he does belt out a rather awe inspiring version of "Ba Ba Black Sheep" so it's swings and roundabouts.
Anyway, suffice to say that although today wasn't as arduous as Saturday it was still lengthy nonetheless - over six hours spent circling Aberdeens car stockrooms. Luca endured it all with good grace, perhaps knowing that the better he behaved the tastier the food his old Dad would treat him with. This was most pertinently proven by the giant tub of ice cream straight after lunch he was presented with. "Ice cream!!!!" he squealed, "All for Luca?" he questioned. The first spoonful entered his mouth before I could even nod my head.
He is so generous though, and despite knowing the icy sweetness was his, he still generously held out regular spoons for his grateful Dad. Rather amusingly on a couple of occasions he pushed the spoon into my mouth, watched me swallow and then patted me caringly on the shoulder while telling me I was a "Good boy Daddy"! Sometimes I forget which way round this parenting lark go's.
We also found time to visit the local funfair. It's been quite a while since I last took him, and as such he became entranced watching this strange world as we doddled through. The roller coaster in particular fixated him. "Daddy look" he wailed "Trains are going fast, up and down, going to fall down!". I had to stay and watch it go round for the next ten minutes until he was convinced it wasn't going to fall from the tracks.
I should mention he had his first outdoor wee today too. We'd just finished having fun photo's taken on one of the fairground machines (they're hard copy so I can't post them - sorry!) when he announced that "I need a wee Daddy!". The desperation in his eyes and the Irish jig convinced me this was urgent so I bundled him under my arm and ran for the car. Carole had loaded his potty in the back seat for such an emergency, so we grabbed it out, put it on the ground in what (I thought) was a reasonably private spot between two cars, pulled down his trousers and let him wee. He was delighted with the wind buffeting his under regions as he jetted into the potty and smiled cheerily at a large Welsh family as they walked past eyeballing this spectacle. It reminds you that the key ingredient you need to succeed as a parent is to have no shame whatsoever.
He enjoyed his day overall though, and was a pleasure to be around - similarly as was Ross yesterday I hasten to add! Understandably, after such a day, he fell asleep quite quickly tonight, albeit not before briefly outfoxing his Mum with his ever burgeoning range of delaying tactics designed to keep her captive in his bedroom.
You may have noticed the strangely irrelevant set of photo's featured. I did take the camera with us on our expedition today but the batteries failed. Frustrating. However, those featured were taken tonight (on my camera phone, hence the fuzzy images) and rather sweetly demonstrate the growing bond between boy and pup. He loves Sima to bits, and as he gets older and is more capable of handling her gently she in turn is more inclined to spend time with him safe in the knowledge he won't decide to stick Playdough up her bum.
**Useless fact of the day - Around 12 per cent of the Earth's land surface is covered in permanent snow and ice**
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