Man of the Match and Squirrels

Man of the match

So, we were feeling 'normal' again and decided to get going again with doing things, especially walking to get some fitness back.

Saturday we were back to football, this week they had a match against Settle at home thankfully, the first time they have played at home for ages due to flooding / snow etc.  We all wrapped up warmly and headed down.  It was warm, we all had to strip off - no wind, which was blissful.  One of the regular first team players wasn't available today so Tom got to start the match in mid field.  Wow!  Today he actually played really good football - he was in it from beginning to end, switched on, he tackled, he defended and he almost scored a couple of goals.  It was a joy to watch (we normally get really frustrated with him as he switches off and refuses to tackle), he looked like he belonged in the team and he even got pats from his team mates.  Parents on the line were even commenting on him.  Wow!  He stayed on for the whole of the first match.  He then get subbed off for the first half of the second match, but got subbed back on for the second half of the second match.  Here it went wrong, he obviously put his all into the first match he was lack lustre and didn't really know what to do and then when a tackle went wrong he burst into tears!  Oh dear, we couldn't placate him!  He got subbed off.

Tufty

He was still miserable when the match ended, but he got called over for the end of match chat and then got made 'Man of the Match', this helped to cheer him up.  As part of Man of the Match he got a chocolate bar, he said he wasn't hungry and didn't want to eat it, we told him to eat it, he ate it, he cheered up immediately!  Ooops - his sugar levels were obviously low.  Need to remember that for next time if he plays a whole first match take chocolate to boost his sugar levels.  Also, of course, because we haven't been active that much at weekends, his fitness levels aren't quite as good as they normally are.



We got him home, put him in the shower, and took him to a cafe for lunch which sorted him out.  We then headed over to Settle as it was Scoutrail - a model railway exhibition run by the scouts at Settle Junior School.  I went shopping in Booths!  We then headed to Grannie and Grandpa's as it is Bob's birthday next week and we were going out for tea, so we hung out for a while and then went to the Talbot Arms for tea.  It was bustling, but we managed to get a table and had a nice dinner.

Rusty

Nik's best piccy!

Sunday morning Tom wanted to head to the pump track so off we went.  He was the only one there and after a couple of circuits was happy to head home.  Matt suggested we head to Snaizeholme to go and hunt for red squirrels, an excellent suggestion, so off we went. We parked the car down the bottom of the track and walked up, where we met with some visitors from Liverpool who were heading in the wrong direction, so we turned them around and then sort of hung out with each other.  We saw some squirrels in the first set of trees, so were happy.  We then saw some in the viewing area scampering along the assault course that has been put up for them, so we were very happy.  Then we headed to the open area by the holiday cottage to see if there were any in the garden.  Oh my, not only were they in the garden but they were very tame.  The Liverpudlian couple had some monkey nuts with them and the squirrels were hand feeding!  Fantastic.  There were 2 in particular who were out playing, we named them Rusty and Tufty and they played and played and played.  It was a joy to watch (although very difficult to photograph as they are so scatty and very very fast!)

Think we stayed a good hour or so just delighting in watching them.  We then headed back to the car (tummies rumbling) and went to Hawes for a very late lunch.  A very good day out.

Then when we got home, we had the Mannings over for roast: horrible gammon.  Had a lovely evening with them all, the kids all get on beautifully so the adults can relax - yay!