[FLYING BANANA]

………………………………… The plan was for me to leave about 10.30 and pop into a supermarket and get some flowers, beer and sweets. My god daughter’s Mum Shelley phoned and asked if I could delay my visit to them by an hour as they had to take the dog to the vets. Not a problem except I didn’t tell Michael. Thus it would give me to have a leisurely drive up to Earls Colne.

The route is straight forward A1-M25-M11-A120 to Halstead then onto Earls Colne. I took my time at a steady rate and never hit any traffic till got almost to Halstead, then it was stationary. Took some time before knew what the hold up was, emergency road repairs. Gas of water? No idea.

Soon I was pulling up outside and my god daughter Kirra was waiting for me. “Uncle Bob, oh! How I have missed you”. And she is just 7 years old. Then Dad came out, Mike, and helped me in with the shopping bag full of goodies. I must admit I did go over the top with the sweets, but they are sensible kids. Waiting inside was Shelley and Domonic, no idea what they are feeding him but he is as tall as me and at 13years old as well. Shelley gave me a hug.

Flowers for Shelley that contained roses, her favourite flower. I gave beer to Mike. And I said to the kids, “Mummy said that I was only to give you each a small bag of sweets as you are both too fat to have anymore”. All untrue but it was worth the looks on all their faces. Once the laughter had stopped the kettle was on for a coffee.

Then the dog joined us, a Beagle called Peppa. I didn’t get anything for the dog as she has had tummy issues in the past. So I just made a fuss of her. Later she fell asleep with her head on my lap. Apparently that was a first as she has never done it with anyone else.
We sat and chatted, and more coffee, the family are planning to come to Cornwall next year on holiday so was asking me on the best places to stay in a caravan or log cabin. Mike said he have a Google around, and more coffee.

Kirra is doing gymnastics at school and wanted to show me all her gym stuff. So I followed her up to her bedroom, looked like a tornado had passed through. So reminded me of Michael’s house. “Dinner is on the table”, was the shout up the stairs and with that she was gone.
Roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings. And very nice too. Kirra is a fussy eater. Some days she will eat chicken and some days not, today being one. Same with everything on her plate, depends on her mood swings.

Still 4 plates cleared out of the 5. Kids were allowed ice cream for dessert. I declined. Domonic was offered the choice between washing up or taking the dog for a walk. He took the dog and went with his Dad. So Shelley washed up, I dried and Kirra put it all away.
The dog walkers were back, and was games time. We started to play cards and my mobile rang. It was Michael, I knew it had to be something serious for him to phone.

I took the call in the kitchen, panic stations on the phone. Oh! How he gets in a tizz. Laura’s friend had phoned Michael to say that Laura wasn’t very well, but she didn’t know what was wrong. Michael was phoning me to let me know he was getting a cab and going to the flat to find out what was wrong. “Ok, just let me know and we’ll go from there”, was my reply.

I told Shelley that I best make a move back to the house and wait further news. Kirra hugged me and said, “Please don’t stay away to long uncle Bob as I miss you so much”, well that brought a few tears. I hugged her back and promised to be back soon. Domonic shook my hand and said thank you for his sweets. Handshake from Mike and another hug from Shelley and I was off.

The roads were clean and green all the way home, the roadworks had gone. Got back to the house in 75 minutes, pretty good. And what did I find, Michael sitting in his chair watching the telly. “Well, how is Laura? What happened”. I asked.
Turns out it was a upset stomach and nothing serious. Michael had just panicked as per norm. He never even rang for a cab as Laura had phoned him to explain.
So I had cut short my visit for nothing.

But Laura said that it would be best if she put off her trip to Cornwall as being unwell coupled with a long car journey might not be a good idea.
So that’s just two of us then travelling back.

Thanks for reading.