Friday night 18

I suspect you'll find it hard to believe, but Jussi and I have not had a night in the pub, or a night out anywhere for that matter, since February. That's a hell of a long time to go without a night out. There are lots of reasons for this, but it mainly comes down to the arrival of the kids and the constant overhead of feeding and milking.

Friday night 18 was actually a Saturday and was relatively uneventful. It was bingo night so half of the revellers disappeared into a back room for much of the evening. (To play bingo silly!). The remaining half dozen or so punters took it in turns to ask us if we were enjoying our holiday. This was quite depressing really - I mean we know them by name, but after a few drams and bevvies we instantly become tourists. Maybe it's a feature of rural life - if you're not a face that has been around all their lives the jigsaw pieces of face recognition aren't sufficiently hard-carved to survive a thorough alcohol wash**. But things were jolly enough after we'd explained who we were, where we were living, what we were doing, where we were from and the name of that shopping centre in Hull that is by the water and they'd apologised profusely. Some even asked for cheese - even a sober one!

Massively enjoyable in a get away from the house sort of way. And we'll get a night out next week too. Not sure if I can cope with this level of excitement.

**And yet I suspect they could still identify their sheep.