Day 5 Llanbradoch to Alrewas

This water is a LOT colder than I thought

What is so nice about my sister’s place is the sense of community.

Nan, Nicholas and I collected Marcus and Saeb from school, walked through the village and back again. By the time the boys got their togs on there were another four children in the back garden. Apparently, this happens often. A multitude of children hang out in the Creaser’s back garden.

The afternoon was fun packed, with all of them dressed for swimming, jumping in and out of the paddling pool. The boys called to one another to soak the girls with the hosepipe and the girls shrieking in either delight or annoyance. The hosepipe, when it was trained toward the trampoline, was fun too, with everyone either jumping over, running through, or rolling under the jet of water.

After an hour or so had passed everyone was in their towel, wrapped up and drying off, warming back up in the sun.

It was only then that Marcus took it upon himself, grabbing Katie and pushing into the pool, towel and all…

… like any great prankster he scuttled back into the house and cowered in fear of coming back out. Rightly so, it would seem, for the girls were prowling around the garden with filled water guns and buckets, hell bent on revenge.

Once both Cheryl and Mark were back, some hours later, the girls had been home and had returned to play in the pool once again. Marcus had chosen to get dressed and sit with the adults, engaging in the conversation.

The conversation had finally gotten to the retelling of the above mentioned incident. A general consensus being arrived at that I should put Marcus over my shoulder and unceremoniously dump him into the pool.

Not being one to disappoint, this I did, and much to the whoops of delight from the girls. After an initial shock of disbelief Marcus accepted the incident graciously and proceeded to play in the pool for a further 15 minutes, while still fully dressed.