After you, Madam.

Stupid buggers.

This cat flap has been in situ for many, many months now, and they use it quite gratefully in the wee hours.  However, during the day, when we are in, they sit and gaze mournfully at the door handle, mewing pitifully until either a) one of us loses our temper and jumps up to open the door for them or b) they get shoved through the cat flap by the scruff of their neck like a turkey being stuffed with ill humour on Christmas morning.  More often than not though, I decide to brazen it out and ignore them, occasionally screaming 'go out the frigging flap' across the kitchen through gritted teeth.  For this I am treated to a look of contempt which would curdle milk at twenty paces and that only a cat can pull off.

Meh.

The Cat Flap War rages on.

Last week we joined the local Golf and Country Club.  Tres posh.  I have the thought in my head that Oliver, being home educated, is disadvantaged of usual physical activities open to your regular schoolboy.  ie PE lessons and twatting about in the playground twice a day.  This led me to researching sporty type locations - one being David Lloyd health clubs. 

My goodness, (or words to that effect) that is one mightily priced place.  For the price of a weekly shop I would be allowed to visit between the hours of 6.30am and 4pm.  Since I only wanted to be able to play tennis and swim with Oliver, and maybe cough up for the extra pilates class now and again, I felt this was unfairly overpriced and said so.  Smug Adam, who was showing me around, said that they could not take away the gym membership to reduce the price as it was 'hard to police' who was using it, and that I would probably find I would use it anyway.  Hah, NOT Adam.  Just get a door and a digi lock or swipe pad like other gyms, you knob.  He annoyed me.  A lot.  I didn't join.

Instead I have taken on an extra shift for work and coughed for the local G&CC where I don't feel duty bound to enter the gym AT ALL and Oliver can play tennis, golf and swim to his heart's content.  That is, whenever I can be arsed to drive down there.  The biggest draw is the fact they have an outdoor pool with space to 'lounge', so my keenness to join up is largely driven by my vision of hot summer afternoons spent sunbathing and splashing about in cool water.  This will, no doubt be entirely spoilt by Oliver whining at me that he is bored as there will be no electricity supply to plug himself into for the purposes of uploading himself into the internet.

I am already bracing myself for this argument. 

I shall overcome.

In other news we have been driving to the nether reaches of the country for Oliver to play Pokemon, that is, Wakefield, which is about as far north as I have ever been apart from when we flew to Iceland. 

 

 

I felt like a softy southerner the minute I got out of the car.  I kid you not, I struggled to understand much of what was said to me throughout the day, as people tended to talk north language which I am unfamiliar with.  This said, the general friendliness of people did outstrip what I have experienced down this way, so maybe there is some truth in the north-south divide.  Oliver did not have a good tournament, coming in 14th, but as this is around his National Ranking, he can't really expect much more than that I suppose.  He met up with old friends from previous tournaments though, and it is this camaraderie within the Pokémon community which keeps me keen to encourage the whole hobby.  I see lads (we are talking men in their twenties here, remember I am quite old now) turning up and greeting each other with such warmth and humour that I see it and want that for my son.  I saw it at the Worlds in Vancouver last year too - the friendship between players which has been established over the years.  Nice.

I have, against all my principles, started a facebook account for Oliver.  I bloody hate facebook.  With a passion.  HOWEVER - I can see that for Oliver, with all his Pokémon friends the other side of Bristol, it is bloody useful.  I have told him that I do not want to see 'friends' on there who live down the road or relations we see on a regular basis.  Pointless.  In my opinion.  Which is right, obvs.

I am one month away from completing this:

Nuff said.