If you read big chunks of my blog in one go, which I do not advise for readers with heart conditions, you might think that my life is rather like that of a WAG - all trips to Pilates, Yoga and the beautician. You are right! Today I had a leisurely swim in the slow lane at the Quays, followed by a splash around with A in the leisure pool. All very leisurely. On Tuesday night it was NRG, and the last week of the 6 week routine. So, next Tuesday will be learning some new moves and have different aches. I do work as well though - its not all fun fun fun you know! Tuesday I taught Year 6 all I know about the environment - well, not quite all but did an hour of slightly scientific sampling of wildlife in the school grounds. It's lovely when your 3 - no, 4 years of study into the environment and countryside pay off. I imagine.

I did one of the most stupid things I have ever done today. I had a cheque to pay in from a friend, who owed me £40. I had not paid it in as she said she would pop round with the cash instead. Today, she did. So, I thought about it and then ripped up the cheque in the paying in envelope and threw it in the bin.

Later, R mentioned the money he had received as a tax rebate - over £1000, and that the cheque should have cleared by now. Yes, dear reader, you guessed correct. It was in bits in the bin. I rang the bank and they said you can't present a sellotaped cheque, although R did a good job with the sellotape and they might not have noticed. That last bit was my analysis, not what the bank man said. R has been giggling to himself and revelling in the fact that I did the stupid thing, not him. He called me a rude word beginning with d and ending in d. He said he is going to tell everyone, so thought I would get in there first.

Today we had a slightly different house group to normal. There are normally about 6 of us, adults, and we have a relatively tidy evening meeting to listen to each other and God, and pray. Dunc and Em have gone away for a couple of nights and in their absence we dramatically changed the set up. Pity them. They work incredibly hard to steer a pirate ship full of broken lives through uncharted waters, and have to do all that with Underseawoman Kay on board, always thirsting for new territories and treasures yet unseen. Or something. Anyhow, if I tell you that everyone left before 7.30 and I just finished tidying up at 9 you will see why I describe our usual meetings as tidy. We had a barbecue, with kids, and me being the inviting kind of person that I am, invited a couple of GGG, a mum from school and her 2 kids and a lady from round the corner with 3 of her 9 kids. So, total head count was over 15 children and about 7 or 8 adults. Hey! I should do parties as a career! Some of us in our housegroup have read a book called Messy Church, by one of my heroines, Lucy Moore. I can see where she is coming from. Anyway, I am particularly proud of the fact that me and Ange and Donna womaned the barbecue successfully, as it is one of those men's jobs in my house that I feel unqualified for by nature of my gender. Generally, that means it is something that strikes me as boring, dirty or both and so I don't want to do it. But barbecuing is great, everyone has very low expectations and so burnt is the norm.

I am reading 2 books about the brain at the moment. One of those 'Why women can't shave and men can only eat with chopsticks' kind of titles. The other is about babies needing love and affection in their early months, and the problems stored up in later life for those who don't get it.