The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2413 by Angharad Copyright© 2014 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

It seemed that Simon had gone to sleep because he had an early start, for a meeting he was a little shy of. I found all this out later. Apparently, he and the heads of the other retail banks were dined at No 11, Downing Street by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Simon doesn’t like the man, nor his boss, he wasn’t that struck on attending but missing out would have had consequences, political fallout and so on, so he put on his best lounge suit and went.

I was in the land of nod, so missed it all including him shouting at the cat for getting hair on his suit trousers. He apparently had a meeting first thing with his own board then went to lunch with the chancellor. I’m so glad I don’t operate in those circles, I wouldn’t be able to keep my mouth shut. Thankfully Si is better controlled, all those cold showers at school, I expect.

After breakfast, I had a call from Mr Henstridge who seemed to think the adoption panel would look fairly kindly on our application because it was supported by Phoebe, who had herself asked to be adopted by us. When he discovered she was sixteen, he was more downbeat, but said he’d do what he could after I told him that some sixteen year olds required a formal parenting environment, and that Phoebe admitted she was.

In case that application failed, I told her that we considered she was our daughter and we would act accordingly. The rest of the kids felt the same about it, she was their sister no matter what anyone else said about it. With a dozen kids in my care, it seems as if my own mother’s prophesy had come true. I did have a big family with lots of kids and I loved every one of them.

I spoke with Trish as I was clearing up the breakfast mess. “How is it you always seem ready with your phone to film things?”

“I dunno, Mummy, just seems to happen. I mean how do you always know when I’m gonna do something dumb?”

“I don’t always know, but I’ll let you into a secret.”

“Yes, Mummy?”

“It’s top secret, so only you will know.”

“Yes please, Mummy.”

“I was a young once, too.”

“Bah, you cheated,” she said her mouth frowning but her eyes were sparkling.

“Who cheated?” asked Livvie.

“Mummy did.”

“How d’you mean.”

She told her sister the conversation that preceded her entry.

“What? You fell for that old one. Of course Mummy was young, she was a girl like us, dumbo.” That resulted in Trish chasing her sister out of the kitchen and down the garden towards the orchard.

Meems was helping Jacquie with Lizzie and Cate was playing with Stella’s two psychos. Danni arrived down in cycling kit and asked if she could ride over to Cindy’s. Apparently Carla was going to be there and they seemed as thick as thieves these days. I agreed but told her to ride carefully as there appeared to have been several accidents involving cyclists recently. Part of me felt envious of her freedom to do what she liked—within reason—whereas I had more work to do for the department. This being a pretend professor was never ending.

While I was at the computer, I browsed some bike shops in Menorca, finding one in Mao who understood enough English to get me a bike and deliver it to the villa that Henry had given us. I ordered an Orbea, which is a Spanish make that seemed quite good and he gave me a knockdown price on it and agreed to deliver it. He told me that he did hire bikes but nothing as good as the road bike I’d just bought. I next warned our caretaker to expect a bike to be delivered next week and that I’d organised flights for the holiday.

Hopefully, that was now sorted. I’d have a bike to ride which the others could borrow as they grew up, assuming I wasn’t using it. If the need arose, we’d have to buy some more bikes. According to Simon, there was a car in the garage and he’d made sure it was in running order and was insured and taxed. Henry had bought it about eight years ago, it was a Peugeot 308 or something, so a sizeable car which only did about five thousand miles a year, so would last for a few more years yet.

While the ecologist part of me felt guilty for having a holiday home abroad which was only used by the family, another part felt glad I had somewhere to go in the sun if it became cold and wet here. Henry had had solar panels and hot water system installed which ran off solar energy, so the place helped replenish any energy it used. Also there was a wood-burner stove and loads of logs, which our caretaker keeps topped up in case we visit in colder weather. The place has gas bottles for the cooker and a second fire, it also has satellite television based on Sky, so we’re supporting a British based cycling team.

Excitement was beginning to mount as I contemplated our holiday. I bought binoculars and a telescope to take over with me to leave there, I’d take my iPad, though there was supposed to be a computer in the villa. The biggest irritation was needing a taxi to and from the airport, but that was small beer and our caretaker would organise it for us, with a people carrier type cab.

I gave up on the pretend professor stuff and called the girls in one at a time to compile a list of the clothing they’d need to take and what we’d need to buy. It took the whole afternoon, but I finally sorted who was coming and what we needed.

Jacquie was coming for the two weeks, she would help me with the younger girls so we’d both have some free time. Phoebe was coming for a week, Sammi was coming for a week. Julie was staying put to run the salon, she’d have a week later if she could spare the time.

Trish, Livvie, Meems, Danni, Cate and Lizzie were with us for the whole two weeks, but Simon said he could only afford a week away from the bank as Henry would also be away one of the weeks.

The castle was apparently being used for a film shoot which would use up most of August but pay for staffing costs for half the year. Simon snapped up the offer very quickly once the film company showed real interest and weren’t just flying kites.

After lunch, David did sardines on a rustic salad, I went exploring all the information I could find about the dormice of Menorca. There wasn’t much and half of that refered to some fossil species which disappeared thousands of years ago. So, if I could find signs of the modern ones, I would try and write about them to get more publicity for the island and its dormice. If I baited an area, it might be useful to set up a camera to record anything going for the food. At least that way, I could check more than one site at a time.

Life was becoming exciting again and I was enjoying it.