GINGATOPIA :: improving the global gene pool

Jilly, Evie and I joined Kieran and Holly in a leisurely drive to Anthony Gormley's 'Another Place' just outside Liverpool on Saturday.  We met Deb and Kev, and Julie, Ged and Sarah Mabel, and had a brief walk along the beach admiring the Gromley statues (it has to be said that Evelyn admired them a little too closely at times).  Due to the surprising number of vehicles on the road, we had to abandon our planned trip to see the red squirrels in <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-formby-2.htm" target="_blank"><strong>Formby</strong></a>, and decided to head into Crosby for a bite to eat and a hot drink before heading off to Deb and Kev's.

Debbie had prepared a beautiful chicken pie for dinner which we all enjoyed before settling down to a quiet family quiz night on the Wii (which <strong>Team Holly/Webby</strong> won despite having a reputation for being profoundly stupid!).  On Sunday (the day before Jilly's birthday), I was treated to the opportunity to help Kev with a little back-breaking physical exercise, digging up and moving 100 cubic metres of soil the length of their considerable garden (I may be exagerrating a little), while Debbie abd Jilly prepared a lovely birthday buffet tea.

On Jilly's birthday, Jilly and I organised the day off and, at Jilly's request, went to Ikea in Birstall.  We'd originally planned to see a film at the nearby cinema, but soon ran out of time having spent so long looking at all the lovely things and planning - amongst other things - buying Evelyn a beautiful day bed and moving Evelyn back into the small bedroom.  We drove home and 'vegged' at infront of the telly watching a new movie before collecting Evelyn from school (don't tell Evelyn we had the day without her, or she'll have a meltdown.  When I collected Evelyn from the out-of-school club, Emma told me that, when she'd seen Evelyn before she was due to start at the club, Evelyn had told her that she might not be going to the OOSC because Jilly and I might be coming to collect her early because it was Jilly's birthday!  Emma added that Evelyn had become <em><strong>too upset</strong></em> when we hadn't turned up to collect her!  Aaaarrgghh! I felt dreadful!)

I took Evelyn home to her mum, then we all got ready for a slap up Birthday Pizza dinner with Kieran and Holly at Pizza Hut where an excellent feed was had by all.

I'll add links to birthday weekend piccies just as soon as I can get them off my phone/get them from Kevin! 

Evelyn was so very <strong>COOL</strong> tonight as she pulled out her own upper left lateral incisor.

<img title="Baby Teeth" src="http://www.gingatopia.com/gingatopia/archives/teeth.jpg" width="304" height="231" />

For about a week now, Evelyn has been showing Jilly and I how very loose her tooth is.  Rather alarmingly, Evelyn has also let slip that one of her friends at school as removed <em>several</em> of her teeth over the last fortnight.  It seems almost as though a competition as developed to see who will be the first to remove <em>ALL</em> their teeth!  OK, perhaps I'm exaggerating a little!

Any way, during dinner tonight, Evelyn became <strong>VERY</strong> upset as she felt her tooth turn in her gums.  Sat with Jilly, Evelyn immediately assumed that she was going to try and remove the tooth and got to her feet crying.  While we didn't discuss it at the time, I think Evelyn was desperate to spit out what she was eating in the hope that, in doing so, she wouldn't swallow her tooth.  Desperate to calm her down, I didn't think to tell her to spit out her mouthful of food (what sort of a crap dad am I?), I just encouraged her to remain calm, and sit with me while she finished chewing.

After a minute or so sat on my knee, I told Evelyn to take a deep breathe and stem the bleeding with some kitchen roll she had hold of.  The next thing I knew, and without so much as a blink of her little watering eyes, Evelyn had removed her tooth!

Jilly and I couldn't believe how brave she'd been, or quite how quickly she got the tooth prepared for the tooth fairy's visit tonight.

<em>Brilliant!</em>

<strong>Er...only on writing this have I realised that I failed to report the loss of Evelyn's upper right lateral incisor!  I may have to amend that retrospectively...er...but don't tell Jim!</strong>

So, as Evelyn and I were returning from the after-school-club this evening, we were chatting about her mum, and I - rather absent-mindedly - called Evelyn 'Jilly'.

Immediately, and without a hint of irony, Evie told me,

"You get things wrong, Daddy, because you are old!" Bloody charming!  There wasn't a hint of a smile about her face...she was deadly serious!

Then, after eating tea tonight, Jilly and Evelyn were listening to the Simon Mayo show in the kitchen.  Mayo had a guest on the show who was describing the pets he kept when he was young...micro-pigs.  Obviously, being a particular favourite of Evelyn's, the subject of pigs interested her greatly. 

"What?", Evelyn asked. "Does that mean that they are teenie-tiny (she 'squealed' 'teenie-tiny' in a very high pitched voice), or that they're small enough to go into the microwave?"

Bloody mad!  Of course, I keep telling Evelyn that I love it that she is so very delightfully mad!

During a wonderfully sunny day, Evelyn and Nanna Bananas successfully completed the Cleethorpes 5km 'Race for Life' in a little under 50 minutes...I think!

Cleethorpes 'Race for Life' piccies

Watching the news this evening, Evelyn suddenly announced, quite out-of-the-blue, without a single word of encouragement from Jilly,

"I am not liking this David Cameron at all. He's shutting everything, and closing everything. Where has that Gordon gone? I liked him; he was very fair!"

What's all that about? I'll tell you. Our progeny's precociously perceptive political punditry, that's what!

Aaaaarrrgghhh! Once the alliteration had begun, I simply couldn't stop myself!

Of course, Evelyn was delighted to be staying with the Wassocks while Jilly and I went away for the night to celebrate my birthday; and we delivered her to Jim and Helen without incident.

Jilly and I made our way to Beverley for around mid-day and had a pub lunch in 'The Queens Head' before having a wander around the town itself buying, amongst other things, Junior Scrabble for Evelyn from Oxfam (we're sure she'll be very pleased with it as the Junior Monopoly we bought her (also from Oxfam) proved to be a great hit.

We had a lovely, and very unexpected, surprise when we booked into The Beverley Arms Hotel. We made our way up to our second floor room in the listed part of the building (where there is no lift), and were soon joined by a member of staff with a bottle of wine. Deb and Kev (bless 'em!) had arranged the delivery of a bottle of wine to our room. Deciding that I'd prefer a bottle of Syrah to the Merlot he brought up, the member of staff was happy (or, certainly, seemed happy) to trail back downstairs to bring me my preferred plonk! I'm not what you'd call a seasoned hotel user, so this seemed - to me - excellent service, so I gave the guy what I hope wasn't an embarrassingly mean tip as a 'thank you' for his trouble; those stairs took my breath away climbing them once!

After relaxing for a while in our hotel room, showering and changing, Jilly and I made our way to Cactus Jacks, and Mexican restaurant five minutes walk from the hotel. As we hadn't booked in advance I was a little anxious that we might be unlucky and not get a table as the place was packed. The restaurant was fully booked but, with a little help from a very obliging maître d', Jilly and I were given a table (more excellent service for my birthday).

After an excellent Mexican meal (yes, we would recommend the food and service), Jilly asked the staff if they could recommend any good pubs nearby and it turned out that we'd passed one between the hotel and the restaurant...you could not predict it!

The White Horse Inn (aka Nellie's) is a fantastically atmospheric 17th century pub, literally down the road from the Beverley Arms. Reminiscent of the Rat 'N' Ratchett (or a poorly lit New Beehive, in Bradford), this Sam Smiths pub seemed very friendly and Jilly and I enjoyed a couple of drinks before returning to the hotel.

I had a lovely birthday, thank you Jilly.

I have had an excellent birthday weekend.

Jilly and Evelyn got up before me this morning and brought me a pile of cards and birthday presents. As always, I could rely upon Evelyn to help me open my cards and pressies. I don't want to list the lovely presents given to me on these pages, but I would like to thank everybody (you know who you are) that sent me something.

After work (I didn't have enough leave to take my birthday off!), Jilly, Evelyn and I enjoyed tea at Pizza Hut. Jilly and I just about managed to finish one pizza between us (as we've both been careful about what we've been eating recently), while Evelyn had her own little mini-pizza to herself. The evening was slightly marred by an extremely drunk bloke who - incapable of opening the door to the restaurant - walked face first into the glass door making the whole glass front of the restaurant wobble. Evelyn immediately burst into tears and took some calming down, while the bloke outside composed himself before staggering off down the road. Evelyn continued finishing her meal once the idiot outside had left.

We returned home for tea and cake (made by Jilly and Evelyn's fair hands)...

Sat with Evelyn this morning, Jilly asked Evie what she thought I might like for my birthday.

Evelyn's first suggestion? "A Nintendo DS?" (Where did that come from; I dunno!)

Jilly pointed out that I'm not really any good at video games, and probably wouldn't enjoy a DS. Could Evelyn think of anything else that I might like for my birthday?

"Er...some sausages?"

I've said it before, SHE IS A LIDDLE BEAUDEE!

Evie has always eaten crisps 'like a laydee'; one crisp at a time.

Being a bit of a pig, I always eat crisps by the fist full (I can't help myself, no matter how hard I try to remember). Seeing me eating a packet of crisps this afternoon, Evelyn looked up and told me,

"Just one at a time, Daddy; simmer yer beans!"

That told me!

A little worried that Evelyn's 'holiday belly' may have returned after the Christmas break, Jilly and I are trying to convince her that she needs to be a bit more careful about the number of sweets she eats.

Reminding ourselves that she's only 6-years-old, Jilly and I realise that we're going to have to give Evie a little help...er...by removing all the sweets in the house in the new year.

As Jilly was at work this morning, Evie and I enjoyed boiled eggs and soldiers for breakfast. Mid-way through her breakfast, Evie looked up from her egg to ask me if eggs had a lot of fat in them. I told her that there was fat in boiled eggs, but that most of it was in the yolk. Poking around her egg, looking for the last of the golden yolkie goodness, Evelyn told me;

"That's why they don't put a lot in, isn't it!"