Alder's Tone

The lows of the last week have to be the weather. Being rather warm has its draw-backs for the Fat Lady – restlessness, uncomfortable, irritable. Though how this last one differs from normal is anyone’s guess. In Scotland we’re not used to temperatures into double figures, never mind leading 2s. And hitting a leading 3 in the nursery has caused some worried looks.

Pirates of the Carribean - Dead Man's Chest will probably be the last film we'll see at the cinema before the big arrival. It was nothing like seeing Ice Age 2 with our Godson and his parents a few months ago - now that was a great and monumentous occasion, being his first cinema trip.

The highs. The Fat Lady got confirmation of maternity pay from work this week. It’s like approaching a roundabout – “Roundabout ahead, reduce speed now”, only in our world it's “4 weeks left”, “panic NOW”, “Sorry, mis-judged, it’s here, apologies if you crashed”. All the way there are milestones, all of which warn you of the impending, none of which you can do anything about. The next crash warning is the first ante-natal class, but that is strictly speaking taking place at the start of week 37, so will be covered later.

Stimulating...not!Another high is "Ripley" responding to music. We have a DVD recording of the private scan done at 23 weeks, and I set this to two pieces of music. The first part is Gustav Holst's Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity from The Planets. I wanted Mars, the Bringer of War but was over-ruled, even Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age was frowned upon. The second is Shapeshifter's Lola's Theme. The reason for this wasn't the lyrics but because we had come out of two scans, the early scan and the private scan, to hear this on the radio. The lyrics are just a bonus. I haven't played the video for a while and was sat the other night with the Fat Lady in the room. ""Ripley"'s kicking". So a couple of nights later I tried again. And sure enough, "Ripley" starts up again. Holst - nyada. Shapeshifters - bring it on.

The change in social calendar has started to take effect. Sure, the Fat Lady has been off the booze for some time, but that hasn’t really been a showstopper. A wedding this weekend won’t be a problem either, apart from neither of us will be drinking. But we’re encountering our first social cancellations already.

We have taken stock of the situation regarding the heat and the Fat Lady’s tiredness and missed the local airshow. With the G8 conference intruding on it last year (the American Secret Service “requested” it was cancelled in the interests of security) we were looking forward to this year's show.

The second social cancellation in the same day was a 30th birthday party. More gutted about missing the latter (obviously), not least as there was an extra special celebration. Congratulations to Richard & Zoe on their happy news. No, it's not baby related, more "rock" related.

They are the first things to fall by the wayside, but not the only. And the list will go Ariston. For those who can’t remember the 1990’s advert, the Ariston goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on.

Post-birth cancellations already made include one wedding that will be missed, another looking dodgy. And then all bets are off for, what, 21 years?

And then there's one we don't quite know where it fits, because it's just before due day. The annual Leatham August BBQ is out for us, so that's our regular-as-clockwork August Bank Holiday out of the window. I must apologise to Matt as he's going to have to find a new chef! I hope the temporary replacement doesn't strike a better deal than I get! Was the word temporary emphasised enough there?

Considering nearly nothing has happened this week, this is a big read.