there are times when my mind is an explosion of feelings
And I just wanna scream at the sky…"

For the past couple of nights I've been taking the initiative and oganising a beer evening in the South western Arms tonight. Up until about six this evening there were no less than seven takers.
It's unusual for me, this 'group' evening - I tend to prefer one-to-one session. Maybe that's why most of the boys cried off for one reason or another and I was left with the dilemma.
The one guy who rang this evening and said "yes. excellent. just knock on my door as you pass" was probably the one I know least, so I wasn't sure whether to make an excuse and cancel or not.
Of course I didn't because that isn't what i do - and so lad. Mark and I had a really cool evening, exchanging stories of (mainly) music and ex-partners/older children.
He has worked the soil in direct antithesis to myself, having four kids from a previous marriage, and one new son. Which is how we know him - Tx and his wife G are good mates. Their son Arthur is in between LC and Baggins.
So we swapped a few storries about that, and then it turns out that he too has a musical taste as eclectic as mine.
He's a big fan of Tom Waits (hurrah!!), but has recently got into ambientelectronica and suggests I listen to a band called "Aim"? Ok…

At the same time, the last couple of nights, plans for this weekend have laid heavy on my miind. Kink had arranged to come down for the weekend with Dan her boyfriend, stayin gideally from Saturday to Monday.
with Mum and Dad comng Monday we can't let this happen, and besides none of us have ever met Dan before and it seems a massive deal for him, staying over with us for three days.
So I have had to call her tonight and say we are not comfortable with the plan. Bless her, she seems OK with it, but it was one of the most difficult calls I've ever had to make and stressed me out.

Didn't seem to affect the day otherwise, and we've all been up to see Winchester City Mill this afternoon and spent a a few hours wandering around the cathedral and shops

They have otters back there now. So good to know - up to 8 pairs breed on the Itchen somewhere now

Seems a place we should visit more often. The kids enjoyed themselves and it was a wonderful day out.

I've been praying a lot about how to handle the call the Kink, and Thank God for the strength to deal with it. I would rather they didn't come at all, but if it ends up being for just a day on Sunday that is very good.
Just pray to Father that he is prepared to cope with us. We are rather a Big deal these days…