Sailaway and Takeaway

Sara seemed to wake me up several times this morning telling me it wasn't time to get up yet - at 4.30 a.m.; 5.30 a.m.; 6.30 a.m. and finally at 6.55 a.m. telling me she would make some tea and bring it up then fell promptly asleep again. Eventually, I brought in tea for us at around 8.00 a.m.!! The wind was howling again and I did raise the St. George's flag on the pole first thing but on our return from church hauled it down again as the flagpole was bending over quite substantially in the wind and Sara was concerned that it might come crashing down. I assured her that it had been erected carefully in several cubic feet of concrete. It was impossible to do any gardening because of the wind and rain. I telephoned my sister in York to see if she would be coming to Sara's birthday party next month and whether she would be bringing Mum. She said that she thought that she might come herself and bring Mum with her if she wanted to go. They would stay in a hotel so we needn't worry about putting them up. I told her I would speak to Mum this evening. Sara, being due to go out of Max's 98 foot boat from Lymington this evening, received a phone call from Sue H to say that they would probably put to sea a little later than thought and that she would be picked up at 5 p.m. If the weather was bad they would either stay in harbour and eat on the boat or go off into Lymington for meal. As I write this they still haven't returned. I washed the car this afternoon and tried to have a little siesta but the phone kept ringing and waking me. Eventually, Tom, Mary and I set off for Farley where Mary was singing Evensong in the Choir. We arrived there far too early and had tea and biscuits with Sarah M and Molly. The rest of the choir didn't arrive until much later. It was a good service and Tom was impressed how quickly it seemed to go until the sermon which was given by a lady LLM from Stonehenge Team in the Amesbury Deanery. Mary sang well and certainly seemed to enjoy it. Klynn brought the girls - he like me is a sailing widower this evening. Afterwards I dropped Tom off at Rockface at then Mary and I went up to Porton to get a Chinese takeaway as Tom had indicated he was quite hungry and Mary said she would also like a takeaway too. Mary had one spare rib and a few prawn crackers and Tom returning from Rockface declared he wasn't hungry anymore because he had stuffed himself with gingerbread biscuits made at Rockface. There is therefore a great pile of uneaten Chinese food in the fridge for Sara. I spoke to Mum on the phone and she said she didn't think she would be coming to Sara's birthday party. She will speak to Heather and let me know if she decides to come down with her. Sara returned from her sailing trip at around 11.30 p.m. The food on board had been fantastic but the sailing a disappointment as they simply motored out of the river and back again - an hour of motoring instead of sailing out to sea and, from all accounts, comparing husbands and their parenting "skills".