It’s a new dimension in stress today – stress that has arrived in the form of a 10 foot trampoline with no safety net. Of course, said trampoline was indeed ordered with a safety net and a zip that made sure none of the boys could fall out and break anything. However, it was duly dispatched without the clips to assemble the poles to hold up the net.

It’s quite remarkable how the element of danger brings a whole new desire to spend time outside and not in! A game of cat and mouse has begun and has ignited a rare solidarity between the troops, unprecedented in its resolve and one that has seen Tom deposited through the kitchen window as I confiscated the back door keys. It’s really quite amazing, considering they never really got on, but are now united in their fight against me and my silly rules to make sure no one takes a tumble and cracks their head open on the slate pathway next to its temporary abode. 

And there’s me, yet another headache, trying to work and not only police the cupboard-thieving and unsuitable youTube viewing but shouting out till I’m blue in the face “get off the trampoline”. I mean, boys – don’t you think I can hear its squeaky springs as soon you take so much as a fairy footstep onto it? Really?

It’s been a long day – it’s not even 4pm, and work, well let’s say it’s slow progress despite getting a couple of hours in at 6am this morning, before they woke up.

How’s everyone else’s summer holidays going? It’s times like this I can see the appeal of an after dinner glass of wine – I wish I drank but I don’t and luckily for me, there is no secret stash of alphabet letters winking at me from my secret hiding place, sabotaging my attempt to be healthy. So for now, it’s dinner and back to the computer – shouting from my office window 3 storeys up, everytime the rascals take a step onto the offending object!

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