Family

My beautiful God-Daughter Miss C, the lovely Mr K and my dear friend Miss T. What a lovely family they make!
Another scorching day today. At 5.30pm as we drove back from Oxford the thermometer didn't drop below thirty five degrees!
Just like it didn't drop much below twenty five degrees last night. Hideous!
Miss T, Mr K, Miss C and I went over to Oxford at lunchtime. We had planned to go earlier and call in to see my mum and dad but Miss C decided to have a nap before we went and then slept for much longer than normal.
But we got there eventually, stopping on the way at  M&S for a bargain meal deal - crisps, weird ginger and orange juice, and scrummy pastrami and gherkin and/or prawn mayonnaise sandwiches.
Then it was time to run the gauntlet of Oxford city centre traffic. Uuugghhhhh!!!!!! There is basically no parking in the centre as they want you to use the park and ride. 
It was about a million degrees so we didn't want to have to walk too far. I decided to drop Miss T, Mr K and Miss C off by the entrance to Christchurch Meadows and then find somewhere to park and meet them by the river. It was a bit chaotic and I'm pretty sure I drove up a street only taxis and buses are allowed to drive up (a hasty U-turn when I saw the cameras but it may have already been too late.......) but I managed to find a space in a side road less than ten minutes walk from the river. The sign said the maximum stay was an hour but I had no intention of moving it in an hour as it'd only give me about half an hour by the river and it was too bloody hot!!
When I got back to the others we found a lovely spot under a tree and settle down to lunch.
Except that Mr K had forgotten to get Miss C's lunchbox out of the car in the hasty departure. So she had nothing to eat or drink. Miss T was not amused!!
So we set off back to the car to get it. In the thirty five degree heat. So hot!!
When we eventually got back we had a lovely hour under our tree by the river. Eating our little picnic, watching the dozens of geese who came right up to see us, watching people messing about on the river. 
All too soon it was time to brave rush hour traffic out of Oxford. And discover that our prayers to the parking Gods had been answered and we had no parking ticket despite parking for over two hours in a one hour bay. Woohoo!!!
As usual Oxford was gridlocked and it took ages to get out to the A34. If only everyone used the park and ride!!!
I started to worry about the car over heating in the heat with all the stopping and starting and not getting much above 5mph. 
But all was well and we got home with about ten minutes to spare before I had to head to school for the Little Misses. 
I got Miss L first just before 6pm and then hurried to get Miss E where I found out she was staying for dinner before her concert tonight. I'd assumed I'd have to rush home, feed her and rush back so it was fab that she was being taken care of and I wouldn't be in quite such a hurry to get back.
Home for a quick cup of tea then back to Miss E's school with my Mum and Mr K for the soloists concert.
To be honest I had been dreading it a bit - stuck in a hot room listening to them murdering various pieces of music!! But I couldn't have been more wrong!
We were in the assembly hall rather than the tiny music studio and round tables were set up like at a wedding so we could sit with our drinks and get a great view rather than being stuck at the back!
There were singers, violinists, cellists, clarinet players, French Horn players, pianists, saxophonists and flautists. With one exception all amazing!!!!
I was so proud of Miss E. She LOVED every second of her piece on the piano. When she'd finished she got up to bow and was absolutely beaming. I love seeing her so happy and proud of herself. 
We had words about how incredible some of the other pianists were. 
Amazing what a bit of practice will do!!
Home for a lovely late dinner outside - more lamb, chicken, asparagus, courgette and feta salad, coleslaw and deli salads. See extras for Miss T looking gorgeous!!
Then it was all I could do to stumble to my bed. It's been a busy day!!