Fri 25th Mar. Something old, something new..

So Friday was to be a fairly normal day. B gets up around 6am to leave the house by half past, otherwise he can't get into the shower block at work for queueing cyclists. Back in the UK the office there was just the one shower and no queue even then. Here I think the foot/cycle path that runs alongside the freeway (and incidently has the river on the other side, so the views are good) is a danger zone for any unwary pedestrians during rush hour.
Anyway, like Bagpuss, once B gets up, we all seem to get up. And so it was that the call came from our departing man "there's a chicken in the front garden". A chicken? Hilarious! Just like old times, I thought. Alfie was delighted to see her, and said chook was perfectly happy to see us. The only problem was, we had no idea where she was from, and this was about 6.30am so I didn't feel inclined to knock on doors and start meeting our new neighbours for the first time in their PJs. As the road is quiet we left her be for a bit, making the most of our previously untapped borders and came back to her just after 7 to find someone from up the road who thought she came from the house opposite. He was happy to knock on their door and so I left him to it and the chicken was safely recovered before the road started to get "busy".

Alfie and the escapee (who's that mad cyclist in the background?!)

After school we went for our obligatory swim. The boys are getting so brave in the water it's great. Alfie doen't need any floaties any more but stays where he can touch ground when necessary. Ru is still wearing his, but jumps in continuously and is delighted when he jumps hard enough to touch the bottom. Alfie found a gecko on the back patio which he was very pleased with.

The evening was time for my treat. My first open air cinema. "Black Swan" with some of the mums from Alfie's class. We sat in the park drinking wine and eating pizza before going in to the movie in a stunning walled garden arranged with deckchairs. It was great! The stars above and the weather still very warm made the film really magical. And the pizza and wine bit took me back to my teenage years in Alexandra park with my oldest friends (a twinge of regret crept in that they are all so far away). A digital thermometer on the way home at 10.30 pm read 27*C. Truly another world.