Weekend Visitor

We adopted a nephew of the wife for the weekend.

I hope he had a good weekend as we started out visiting one of the Aunties before heading on to Somerset Speedway. He seemed pleased that he could tell his friends he had DSD'd. We asked what he meant by that and he said 'did something different'. He will not be aware that he watched the home team, the Somerset Rebels, go to the top of the table with the win that they produced. They have never been top of the table before so it was a momentous occasion.

On Saturday morning we had some shopping to do and it was all complete after a quick trip to the local shopping square and a few minutes in LIDL. I asked if we needed anything at Makro only to hear from the back seat "Makro? I love Makro" so off we popped to Makro and by the time we had finished walking around we had £70 worth of goods in the trolley.

After the shopping we visited another Auntie and found the usually boisterous dogs penned in at the back of the house instead of all over us as on past visits. The other reason for visiting was to pass on a birthday card to another nephew. He seemed pleased with his card and relaxed about life as he is training to be a chef.

In the afternoon we insisted that he help us with the garden. I am trying to landscape our hill to make it a little more accessible and the process is to turn the steep slope into a set of terraces. Dawn opted to strim the grass and showed off at one point by somersaulting down the garden with the strimmer in her hands. It turns out that this was involuntary and she had actually slipped but as soon as she reached the bottom she was on her feet again looking for the next patch to strim.

In the evening we organised a barbecue and that was what most of the money spent at Makro went on. Peppered beefsteaks and peppered pork plus lamb kebabs and scallops. Four of us had a feast to remember which included some jerk chicken which we exchanged for some scallops with next door. Our guest indulged in the Coke with Lime that we had bought a tray of from Makro, Jess decided to try the Oasis and I found myself thoroughly enjoying my Hoegaarden, my favourite Belgian beer.

After that we watched a bit of the Live Earth concert before retiring for the night.

Sunday morning started slowly but we agreed to head out onto Dartmoor. The day was dry if cloudy but as we got up on the moors it turned cold, wet and windy. We drove further than we normally do and eventually settled at a place called the Warren Inn. We heard that the fire had been burning for 150 years, summer and winter. There are two fireplaces and when they want to clean one chimney they lift the fire on its grate into the other fireplace. Nice tale whether it is true or not. We enjoyed an expensive meal before heading the long way back home.

In the afternoon we played a borrowed DVD, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, with some marvellous scenes of escapism as we watched some marvellous scenes of escape. Davy Jones' locker really exists and there is really a beating heart in there. The ending is not a proper one but sets things up for Pirates of the Caribbean 3. We shall have to watch.

Sunday Nights are 'Our Time' and we invited some friends round for beer and conversation. The conversation was clearly not appealing to the lad but he endured it manfully and commented when spoken to. He enjoyed two more coke and limes as well as a couple of J2Os.

He left this morning with my wife. We hope he had a good time but we may not find out until (or if) he gets in touch again. The weekend is over now but I always look forward to the Speedway on Sky Sports Monday nights as the real end of the weekend.