The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3210 by Angharad Copyright© 2017 Angharad

The shopping trip was fun and we caught up with Siân’s news and shared ours. They were going on holiday to Turkey, which didn’t appeal to me, especially with the recent clamp down by the government on dissenters to what appears to be fast approaching an Islamic dictatorship. I chose not to share my opinion as it would have achieved nothing except possibly to spoil their holiday. Instead I told her we were going to Menorca to our villa for a couple of weeks.

“To our villa,” she repeated in a ridiculously posh accent adding, “Nice to be wealthy, innit? I’m just a poor wage slave.” At this we all three laughed our socks off. GPs may not be the best paid of the medical profession, but they earn a good salary which is often in excess of six figures, but then so is mine and Tom’s as VC is only topped by Simon’s from the bank, but then he gets all sorts of bonuses although he does work hard for them. As I’ve said before we invest quite a bit in the children with savings accounts for them of which they are oblivious but they mature when the girls reach thirty—we felt twenty five was too young and it also gives the accounts a chance to grow and will be well worth having. Until then we’ll give them an allowance from which they will be expected to maintain themselves in personal things and some clothing.

If they go off to college or uni, then we’ll up the amount to cover all their necessary expenses plus a bit over but they won’t get carte blanche as that would just result in them treating the whole thing as a jamboree. They will however get bonuses for good marks and a final one at the end of their course for a good pass. Siân agreed it was a good idea to reward them when they were mature enough to use it sensibly and also to give them incentives to study well.

She asked after Julie and I was pleased to be able to say that she and Phoebe were doing very well with their salon and the flat above it. They popped in regularly but I noticed as they established their own place, they visited less often as they developed their own lives. Quite what would happen if they had permanent partners, I wasn’t sure as I didn’t think the flat was big enough for four people, but they may think differently and I do like my space.

We looked at all sorts of clothes and shoes for ourselves but in the end bought stuff for the girls, especially my lot when they went on holiday. I also bought a book on ecology that I didn’t have and which looked quite interesting for teaching material. I also bought the latest Donna Leon mystery to take with me for my holiday reading and one by Elly Griffiths. I’d probably leave the books out there unless I hadn’t finished reading them, because apart from guide books and atlases of Menorca, there aren’t too many novels or light reading books at the villa. I also did wonder about buying a telescope and binoculars and leaving them there to save carting mine about through airports which can’t do them any good.

As we were flying, I’d send some of our baggage ahead so in theory it would be there waiting for us. I’ve already left some clothes there and as I haven’t put on any real weight, they should still fit, including my swim suits. The children of course are still growing so they’ll have to take their best stuff and some clothing I’d send on ahead. In reality, I’d love to take my birding stuff but also microscopes and their accessories so I could play to my heart’s content, but to do so I’d have to go on my own. One day I may take ferries and drive down and take all that stuff with me and have a real bio-blitz holiday, can’t think of anything better than looking at birds or mammals, insects and even pond water—see how it compares to stuff over here.

Damn, now I’m wishing I was playing about with microscopes rather than wandering around Salisbury, even if it was with my sister in law and my oldest friend.

The drive home was uneventful and to pay a penance for borrowing Simon’s car, I filled up the tank as we reached Portsmouth. At least he wouldn’t be able to grumble about that and he was taking Danielle to play soccer tomorrow and collecting her. The last time she played in a friendly she scored six goals as a protest in being left out of the England ladies squad at the Euro championships—in the end they got beaten in the semi-finals by the Dutch. Danielle refused to watch it on telly saying that they only left her out because she was transgender. Given her body shape is very female, she’s skinny because of all the sport she does, and she’s a pretty girl with nice hair, no one would ever guess she wasn’t 100% female unless they did medical tests, so if she’s right about their narrow mindedness, I hope she embarrasses them again and continues to do so until they recall her—then it’s up to her if she goes or tells them to stick their team. Whatever she decides, we’ll support.

She’s also good at cricket, but getting into that may be too late now as she hasn’t played for a couple of years—but it’s another option. When she goes to university, she’ll be a shoe in for the soccer team, unless she’s stopped playing, but I doubt she will, she loves her sport. Trish is another matter, especially as she’s so precocious, so going off to Cambridge, she’ll be too young to compete on sports field against the ordinary students but I doubt that will bother her, she’s happy if she’s busy wearing out her brain, so the essential thing will be intellectual stimulation providing she doesn’t go into meltdown, so we’ll have to see how we can provide for her—now if we could only get Danielle into Cambridge in a couple or three years time, they could share a flat and at least there’d be a friendly face there for each other. Somehow I doubted she’d want to go there and I doubt she’s quite up to their entrance requirements and Loughborough would be better for her for sport. Life doesn’t get any easier, does it.

Simon was pleased to see his car back and the sod went out to check it when I gave him back the keys—not helped by Stella saying it had got scratched in the car park when I drove too close to the barrier. Okay, I didn’t help things by saying it wasn’t the barrier, it was the kiosk with the little bloke in—but it was the first time I’ve seen Simon run for ages and he liked the undies I bought him, I also bought myself a couple of new bras in M&S where they will do a fitting if you ask them, not that I particularly enjoy having a complete stranger see me in my underwear, but at least I knew they fit me properly.