Small Portions

A strange weekend, by our normal standards anyway. Visits to the hospital revealed a Father-in-law very much improved and back to his usual self. The confusion seems to have gone and his spirits are definitely rising. Huge sighs of relief all round, he should be out of hospital later this week. Then the long term rehabiliation can begin. We had heard rumours of our local petrol station running out of fuel, people have started panis buying in face of the proposed blockades of oil refineries this week. When we went to do our shopping I noticed a small queue outside the petrol station, glanced at my fuel guage and thought I'd better join it. I can't say that we use a lot of petrol, I only use the car in the week to go to football and at the weekends to get around and go shopping. During the week I commute using the tram system, which of course I should, given we are here to promote public transport. But with the needle hovering over the "E" and the prospect of more trips to the hospital this week, and a football match to attend next weekend I decided to fill up. It turned out that they were only letting each driver put £20 of petrol in, with one of the attendants using the override button to cut off any transgressors of the rules. Whilst in the garage paying for my fuel, I asked the manager how bad things were. She told me that they had run out of fuel each day and although they were expecting another delivery today they were warned that things were looking bleak if the blockades do happen. I've now got half a tank of petrol, with normal usage that would last me at least a month, so I may not have too much to fear. I pity those people who are reliant upon their cars for all transport, things may be looking grim for them. I also know that my father-in-law has a half tank of fuel, so I've baggsed that and will be practising my siphoning skills just in case (he's not allowed to drive for at least 6 months) In other developments we have initiated a new rule - one hour's tv per day - although we've never let the heirs watch unlimited tv, their dependency on it as entertainment has become very noticable. Instead we spent a happy and laughter filled afternoon playing board games, reading and generally having fun. I cannnot recall all of us laughing more in recent times. Some of that may be connected with father-in-law events, but even so I think this is a new positive step for us as a family. Heir no.1's choice for his hour of tv? Pimp My Ride - so I won't be getting that Award for Great Parenting just yet. I must admit to a wry smile when we visited my mum's recently and he was tugging her friend's shirts and telling them: "You've been pimped!" - their faces were great. A gentle aside from me allayed any fears that he is attempting to become a junior Huggy Bear. Heir no. 2 has developed a taste for trying to adorn herself with any clothing left within reach, regardless of what she is already wearing. At one point over the weekend she had her outfit; T shirt and jeans on, coupled with two pairs of heir no. 1's underpants (one over each arm), her sun hat, his baseball cap, one vest worn as a skirt and a baby grow trailing from one foot. She was somewhat mystified as to why her new sofa climbing skills had deserted her. Bless.