Captain Pugwash and the Rude Awakening

I'd expected to be wakened early by either Freddie or Amelia this morning, but it was not to be.  The site owners are building a wall (or an extension) to their house immediately at the end of our garden.  They are clearly keen to have it finished, as evidenced by the beep beep beep of a reversing truck before 8 am. It seems their need for more bricks outweighs my need for more sleep. As I opened the curtains, I noted that it is the second day in a row that it has been warm and dry, with a hint of sunshine. If we were back home and tomorrow turns out to be similar, this would officially be designated as summer. 

We drove down to the lakeside mid-morning.  Grahame has been consumed by the idea of hiring a boat since we got here. "Can we hire a boat dad, can we, can we dad?" So we hired a boat.  There are 8 of us and the boat seats a maximum of 6, with the hire charge increasing for every 2 sailors.  Some rudimentary maths confirmed that it was more economical to hire one boat for an hour than 2 boats for half an hour, so Captain Grahame and First Mate Maria set out with the 2 wee ones and the rest of us settled on the balcony of the coffee shop above the hire desk. I hadn't quite finished my coffee and tray bake when Grahame skilfully drove (or is it piloted) the boat back to the jetty. Being a loving and considerate father, I sent him back out with Jackie and the 2 older girls for the remainder of the hire. That way I got to finish my coffee in peace.

Returning from sea (or lake), the intrepid sailors were hungry, so we ducked into the Ullswater Inn for lunch. The logistics took a bit of working out, as the place looked deserted other than a chef slaving over a hot stove. We finally figured out that there was a thriving bar upstairs where one placed the food order. There was quite an extensive menu and some interesting light bites.  I chose hot smoked salmon in a sourdough bun and Jackie, Grahame and Maria all went for venison on toasted sourdough with a pepper sauce, with fish and chips and burgers completing the order. As it turned out, the venison was already finished, but I didn't mind as it was probably a bit deer.

Technically, the afternoon should include some down time while Freddie had his nap, but today it just wasn't happening. He protested loudly and at length until he was allowed back downstairs to run about and make even more noise. It's just as well he is so cute! Fortunately, Maia and Isla intervened and took him and Amelia to the park for a while, so we did get some time to ourselves.

Jackie's phone is stuck in safe mode and has been playing up for the last couple of weeks. After a few hours of Googling and experimenting, I have deduced that it is something to do with the volume button. I phoned a local repair shop to ask if they could replace a faulty volume button on a Galaxy S21. "It depends on what's wrong with it", they said "I'd need to see it". So I tried again - if the volume button was faulty, how much would it cost to repair it? "It depends on what's wrong with it, I'd need to see it". Tried again - if it did turn out to be a faulty volume button, would you have a replacement in stock? "No" he replied, (without even needing to see it). I feel that Safe Mode is an unfortunate term, as the phone has never been more in danger of being thrown against a wall or out of a window.Baca lagi