27th January 2007

We’ve just completed an entire week without anyone in the family being ill, a rare triumph and certainly worthy of celebration. No sniffles, stomach bugs, or suspicious coughs. Long may it last (though I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud…).

In other news, I’ve been dabbling on eBay, and after many unsuccessful bids, I am now the proud owner of an inflatable canoe. Yes, really. Inspired by a Paul Heiney programme on Anglia TV, in which he fearlessly canoed the lost rivers of East Anglia, I decided it was high time for some watery exploration of my own. Sarah, naturally, has been enlisted as my unwilling first mate.

The model I bought survived a full-length trip down the Amazon (the river, not the online retailer), so it should just about cope with the Nene or Welland without too much drama.

Adding to the tech upgrades, I also won a TWIG mobile phone in a competition. It’s Scandinavian, packed with GPS and satnav, and is, frankly, smarter than I am. I’m slowly learning how to use it. It may yet save me from getting hopelessly lost on summer rambles, though whether it can help me find my car in a National Trust car park remains to be seen.

Sarah, meanwhile, continues to make us proud: she’s bagged an ‘A’ in GCSE Maths and earned an A+ for a delicious Mexican meal she cooked at school. Perhaps more impressive still, no one in the family suffered food poisoning. Later in the week, she bravely stepped into the goal for the school hockey team. They lost. We shall draw a discreet veil over that one.

As for Jamie, he decided to have the rear windows of his car tinted on Friday afternoon, £150 for the privilege of seeing less. Later that very same evening, he reversed into a lady’s car in the Tesco car park, claiming he “didn’t see her”. The irony was not lost on anyone. The repair bill is currently unknown, but I suspect it may involve a sharp intake of breath and a long shake of the head from the garage.