Tuesday 20th June

Some very weird things have happened today. Firstly someone rang our door bell in the middle of the the night (well, at 4am anyway) and secondly my car key has vanished off the face of the planet. I have searched everywhere...high, low and in between the cushions of the sofa, under the rug, and even Lucys toy box. Infact I searched for so long and so methodically the housework almost seemed to do itself (except the ironing). Strangely enough though my key has still not appeared, which is very odd considering I managed to park and lock the car right outside my front door. Anyway, the upshot was that I was so cross that I took my annoyance out on a toilet roll and squashed it with my bare hands! The Mooker also got to skive nursery as you're not allowed in after 9.30, and at this time I was bottom in air, peering under things and conducting a thorough search for the dratted key.
However, after a shakey start the day did improve. I made a really yummy chilli con carne which I casseroled in the oven for 2 hours in preparation for the England game as Hoppy had invited a couple of his OPCs round to watch the match. Joe came, along with his wedding photos, as he's just got married. (He said he'd got fed up going out down the strip, so asked his family to arrange him a marriage when he went to Pakistan for a holiday and was married within 24hrs!) He brought some very hot and tasty chilli chicken with him aswell. Jimbo came to represent Sweden, complete with Viking hat and a Swedish t shirt he coloured for Lucy, and a couple of others (including a polish girl called Katy), so we were pretty multi-national. Lucy had a great time leaping about giving everybody high fives, and when Sweden scored she found Jimbos dance very amusing. I let her have a sleep at tea time because I thought that there was no point putting her to bed with a living room full of people shouting every time we scored, only to get woken up again, and I think that she had the best time of us all! Hop said he was really proud of her because she was so good, and there was a really nice atmosphere.
The key didn't show up, but thankfully Mohsen still had the masterkey, so I'm mobile again as Hop brought it back with him. I'll have to get another one cut before this one disappears too. I've run out of ingenious places to look, and the house is very tidy, so my guess is it must have gone out with the rubbish (with perhaps some help from Lucy!) Anyway, the photo shows the phantom scribbler, poised and ready for action!