Wild weather

I keep hearing about the snow in Texas and the weather here is pretty wild too. We're having torrential rain and windstorms. It's unbelievable. The windows in this house are the original Victorian and they are very drafty. Most of the time I like it because it keeps the house from getting musty but for the last 24 hours or so it's meant that the blinds are all billowing and flapping because the wind is blowing so hard.

This morning we all got up to start the day. J left for a week in Tokyo. We were surprised that his flight was still taking off but it was all going to schedule. Toby's school is only about 300 yards from the house and we always walk it but today I seriously considered taking the car. In the end, we all just put on our raincoats with hoods (far too windy for umbrellas) and braved the walk. We went a few doors down and collected Toby's friend Max so that his Mum wouldn't have to come out with the baby and we all trooped in. We were pretty wet when we got there but it was actually nice to be out and the boys had a great time pretending they were caught in a tornado.

By the time Rosie and I walked back home I had to hang our jeans on the radiator to dry. My socks were also soaked so I took them off and put on some pajama bottoms and started tidying up the breakfast things while Rosie watched some cartoons and drank her milk.

I have never lived in a home in England where the front door didn't automatically lock when it was closed. Some doors can't even be opened from the inside without a key. I remember once, when we were in the flat, our neighbor locked himself into the communal hallway. His flat door had accidently closed behind him and the front door was bolted so he couldn't get into his flat or out the front door without a key! I have no idea how long he sat there but he was very glad to finally get out.

Well, as part of my tidying this morning I decided to put out the rubbish and recycling. I stepped out the front door, put the rubbish and recycling in the bins, turned to go back inside and realised that the door had blown shut behind me. Oh bugger. I was standing outside in a freezing rain and windstorm barefoot wearing a T-shirt and a pair of flannel snowman pajama bottoms.

I tiptoed to the living room window and managed to get Rosie's attention and asked her to go and open the door for Mommy. She's such a good girl. We have glass panes in the front door and I saw her run into the hallway and up to the door. She can't reach the handle. Oh bugger bugger bugger. My keys were in my handbag in the hallway so I pushed open the letterbox and asked Rosie to get my keys out and hand them to me through the letterbox. This was a long and testing process. Imagine trying to explain to a two year old that the keys are in the middle zipper compartment... no, not that one sweetheart, the other one... yes, that's the one... now unzip it... no darling, the other one... the one in the middle... you know what 'middle' means don't you, yes that's it... OK, perfect!... now, get my keys... no, not the mints... yes, you can have one when you give me my keys... OK, you're going to have one now are you?...

As all of this was going on I was losing feeling in my feet and my clothes were getting soaked. Finally Rosie got the keys and managed to put them through the letterbox so I could let myself back into the house. I came in freezing and dripping wet with my hair looking like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards. I must get another set of keys made for the neighbors.