Day 171: The sharp end

This morning at eight, our next-door neighbour interrupted 'Saturday breakfast' to warn us that they needed to block our drive in order to remove the lightning-struck tree.

In fact, two men had come to remove it with a large crane, a chainsaw and a massive garden shredder.
There is a video of part of the tree being munched here.

After that excitement, we went over to the new house to see the completion of the floor resurfacing and then realised we were short of a few things for the next couple of jobs, so we went to the garden centre for a housewarming gift (not for ourselves!), the supermarket for some supplies and some lunch and then returned. We ate lunch sitting on a mattress in the kitchen. I don't know why it was there! Then Exile #2 did some kitchen cabinet cleaning and Exile #3 and I bonded over clearing some dead (following pathclearing weedkiller application) grass from in between the bricks on the pathway to the front door. When it got too hot, we retreated, sometimes to the kitchen for a cold drink, otherwise to the basement for some cool air.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening with T&S and baby J at their new home (hence the housewarming gift) we had a very nice time including (in alphabetical order): barbecue, beer, chasing girls aroung garden, conversation, cooing over each other's babies, showing off new cars, test drive of tractor/ride-on mower. A fine time.

The girls were ushered into bed without any real difficulty on our arrival home (at 9pm), all-in-all a very good day, and I am especially happy that the Daddy-Exile #3 interactions were overwhelmingly positive today. If only this were true of all my non-work days...