Umbrella-ella-ella

Seeing as all I have been doing all day is typing, I thought I may as well stretch the fingers to their limit and share with you Saturdays soggy sausage saga! Be still your beating hearts... my glamorous life is just too much some times!

On Saturday Miss T and her man invited us, two other great friends and respective kids over for a BBQ. When we scheduled it in four months ago we were hopeful that the weather would still be good. You can fall off off your chair on both counts - I know you should never presume that the weather will be BBQ friendly, and yes, I did say scheduled four months ago! Gone are the days of spontaneity now that kids tag along; booking it that far in advance is the only way to ensure that we get to see each other these days!

At first I wondered if Miss T was slightly crazy to invite a total of five kids and their parents over; the majority of which would definitely be hitting the bottle, but then I remembered that their house is still a work in progress so better sooner rather than later! 

We arrived at the same time as the rain but were not deterred as everything was set up under a sheltered veranda... to which Miss T kept referring as her "covered area"!  Cue many "Ooh Err Missus" remarks... well mostly from me actually! 

All was going well, despite Small Child being on a pre-teatime downer meaning that sulk attacks were becoming more frequent the closer it got to BBQ lighting time. I've discovered it's much easier to cope with these by the way when you have a Saturday afternoon glass of red in your hand and are in the company of great friends!

And then disaster struck. Junior Daughter of Mrs L announced that her Nintendo DS game had gone down the gap in the decking.... and then burst into floods of tears!  To add insult to injury, it was her younger brother who had deposited it there, albeit accidentally, and it was her favourite! 

Up until now I've remained unfamiliar with the aforementioned gaming device but since someone pointed out that it is an extremely good distraction device,  it has been duly noted and filed away under the More Relaxed Holiday section for future reference.

Mrs L offered comfort between utterances of "thirty bloody quid that cost", but it was Miss T's other half who saved the day. Not only did he rip up the decking but also provided entertainment for the younger audience in the form of the infamous "Aarrgghh... somethings got my arm" trick whilst he fished around in the cobwebbed nether regions underneath!  

Once the kids had eaten their body weight in sausages, burgers and bread, the adults got to sit down to a feast of steak, prawns and healthy salad stuff thrown in for good measure... a great time was had by all.

More booze, a Nintendo Wii tournament and much hilarity at taking turns on the vibrating reclining chair later, we retired back to Mrs L's to tuck some very tired, assorted sized children into bed. Actually it was only 8.30 but it felt like midnight - the stamina definitely isn't there anymore! Somehow we did manage to stay up for a late night cheese, biscuits and port session... just to avoid looking like complete sad old gits you understand!