Rain awoke me this morning – a tremendous downpour at 05:20 or so. Peeped out the velux before closing it & the world was a pale orange – the sunrise through the dense rain. By the time I was out of bed 15 minutes later the glow had gone (the rain slightly less intense)

As we’re stuck prior to summit tunnel this morning it seems likely that there’s a certain amount of flooding in there, but as a train has just come through from Manchester I’d say it’s just causing signaling problems (train proceeding with a toot of horn).

Forgot to mention yesterday that Esme slept through the night in her bed (well, the futon). She woke up as I came back upstairs to rouse Louise for the day. I tried taking Esme upstairs to see she might settle to sleep again (it being a bit early, really) but she was too happy to be awake & therefore gave up & took her downstairs to let her play. Louise likes to have a little peace in the mornings before the kids wake up but Esme couldn’t allow that yesterday.

The Den (monday)

More den building for me yesterday – more Jack pestering from Jack, rather than Jude. I hung out for quite a while before popping over when I got home, because Louise wanted some adult company & I needed a rest. This frustrated Jack a little as I was ‘professionally fence sitting’, “I refer the [honorable] gentleman to the reply I made earlier”. Still – Jack had me over there before & after tea – bashing big 6″ nails into wood & working up a sweat (sweaty sweaty work). I’ve given him hints on how best to progress today – using some twine rather than just nails. That should help with strength in some areas (I have no building skills, but it seems i have reasonable bodging instincts).