The plane that saved Britain

And so the rain continues. Radio 4 insists that August is always rainy but, seriously, I don’t remember one as bad as this. It feels like we’ve had about five days of sunshine and the rest has been wet. It makes it very difficult to toilet train a new puppy when you have to stand in the rain.

The almost constant rain meant that Mirinda and Sophie didn’t take their customary walk today while Tom and I watched a film. They went to the Barley Mow at Tilford, instead. Meanwhile, Tom and I watched Home, a film about aliens finding themselves.

The main male character was voiced by Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. He was very good. Tom wasn’t convinced about the film but I laughed a lot which is really how he judges movie quality, so, by the end of the day he was convinced it was funnier than he first thought. Mind you, I will laugh at just about anything so the amount I laugh is not necessarily a good Film Quality Yardstick.

After the movie, we started to build an Airfix model of a Spitfire that I’d bought him, the idea being that we’d build it together. And this was when I learned a valuable lesson. Airfix model aeroplane kits are made for the older male. We assume we are going to build it WITH a child but the child is quickly bored and goes off doing something else while the older male winds up building the whole thing. Fortunately, most older males don’t really mind because they enjoy building Airfix model aeroplanes, remembering how much they enjoyed watching their fathers show them how to build them. And so it goes….

Before we started plane construction, Tom had a bit of a play with Freya who he wholeheartedly approved of.

No, you won’t get through!

Now I know I shouldn’t experiment on guests but Sophie is really more than a guest these days and, to put it bluntly, Tom couldn’t care less what I serve as long as it doesn’t have too many (read ‘any’) vegetables, so I did. I made my first paella…and it worked extremely well. In fact, I think it’s one of the first meals I’ve served Sophie that she was actually quite effusive about. That’s not to say she doesn’t appreciate the meals I cook, it’s just that she’s not always very vocal about it.

Okay, okay, no need to gloat

Unfortunately, dessert wasn’t quite as good. I made a Nigella Lawson salted caramel ice cream which was WAY too salty. I served it with a berry coulis and a base made from Amaretti biscuits and pecans, which made it edible but, really, next time I’m going a lot easier on the salt. Interestingly, Nigella says she likes even more salt than the recipe calls for. Mind you, I learned an easy way to make soft serve ice cream which I’ll definitely be trying again.

Okay, you win!

Eventually, Mirinda and Sophie returned and there was the usual rush out the door so they could catch their train and I was left to flop, exhausted on my recliner, covered in dogs.

I can’t look!