Gambling Tom

This weekend it was my turn to be a single parent as Matt was on an all expenses paid trip to New York for a meeting with his best client.

We had a busy time, so hardly noticed that Matt wasn't here.  Thursday we had Caitlin over for tea (we asked Tom who from his class he wanted to invite over for tea rather than dictate to him and after a lot of thought he wanted Caitlin - I think mainly because she knows and likes Totoro and he wanted to show her his).  She was incredibly good company, chatted away, played with all the boy toys and was pretty well behaved (except at tea time when she tried to feed Tom her pizza!).  She then walked us to her house (I didn't know where she lived but her mum told me not to worry as she was more than capable of showing me the way)  She was, even telling me to cross the road sensibly and quickly etc etc.

Friday I was giving blood at school pick up time so Kate picked Tom up and took him and Finn to the park.  Luke and Lauren turned up too - it was such a gorgeous day that we didn't get home until after 5pm.

Saturday we were up early as we had been invited to the Watsons' in Chester.  Max and Phil were visiting from London (mainly so we could all meet Max's new girlfriend - who is the best friend of an old friend from Wokingham - Facebook is great for connections and coincidences).  These are Matt's friends from University, so it was their big annual meet up.  Obviously Matt pulled out last week, but I was still determined to go, I wanted to meet Helen and anyway Tom enjoys visiting Maggie, Tamsin and Jenny.  The plan was to go to the races, so we left at 9am to get to their house in time.  We didn't hit any traffic and got there in good time.

Winnings!

We got the bus to Chester, then Lisa and Cameron took us for a walk along the Roman Walls, taking in all the sights before heading to the race course.  Now, I am hopeless at gambling, having not a clue about form etc, I go on colours, names and if they are Irish or not.  I figured I would give Tom a go and I'm glad he did, we only did the minimal bet (£1 each way) each time, but Tom had an eye for a winner and chose two winners.  Not bad considering we only bet on 4 races.  One horse gave him £12 from his £2 each way bet.  It was good for him, it meant that he got a go on the fun fair as a reward.  It was a nice lazy afternoon, the sun came out, conversation was easy and the children betted well (adults were rubbish in comparison) - a lesson to be learnt: you don't need school, just bet for a career - it brings great rewards.

We got the bus back to the Watsons, where we were treated to a sushi feast followed by crumble (true fusion cuisine) before trying to stay up late chatting (we are officially now all light weights).  We then all headed off to our various spaces for sleep.  Tom was sleeping with Tamsin and Jenny, but unfortunately one of the Watson's cats got in during the night and startled him, so he ended up in with me but he was seriously down on sleep, having not gone to bed until after 9pm.

Sunday dinner for 11

Sunday we had a lazy morning.  Maggie and Tamsin went for their tennis lessons, so Tom and Jenny played with each other.  Now Jenny is the smallest of the Watson clan, having just started Reception.  She tends to clamp down and not speak when she is with strangers so I've never had a conversation with her.  Tom normally ignores her and plays with Tamsin, however, during this period he and Jenny played really nicely.  In fact we almost forgot they were in the house.

Once T & M returned we headed to the local pub for Sunday dinner.  Luckily there was a big garden in the pub, so all the children disappeared whilst we chatted.  They returned for dinner and then headed out again, returning for pudding and then they were off again.  It was a perfect situation, we actually managed an adult conversation.

Once we had finished, we returned to our cars and headed home.  Tom was asleep within 5 minutes and stayed asleep for the whole trip home.  He was then back in bed fast asleep within 2 hours of arriving home.  A good weekend.