Monday

The Pest Man Cometh. He arrived as scheduled - which, I think, is one of the reasons M booked him - he has been to Latimers before. M and S were up early getting ready - making sure that everything that could be contaminated by his treatment were safely moved, covered or tucked away. This is what they had talked about but since I wasn't there, I'm not absolutely sure what they did - although what I do know is that S wasn't feeling well when she woke up this morning. Luckily she improved during the day but it wasn't looking good to start with. Just as well it happened before the Pest Man because otherwise it could have seemed as though it was a reaction to his treatment - which, amazingly, didn't leave a chemical smell, and didn't require a "clean up" afterwards. The whole field seems to have come a long way in the years since we had a house done in Charters Towers many many years ago and there were huge puddles of stuff left throughout the house. It was not a lovely way to spend Christmas Eve - but that's another story!

M and S were able to keep the animals out of harm's way by moving them to places where he hadn't been yet, or to places where he had been, but long enough ago for it not to be an issue - especially as the treatment is not toxic to animals or pets!

Then, M was off to a lunch, and S settled in to a quiet, recuperative day with Emma who was happy to do nursing patrol and spent a fair amount of the day sitting on or beside S.

Luckily S had fully recovered in time for tonight's Trivia - where our team - which has swelled from the three of us - F, S and I - to five - N and S - and then 7 - C and J-L, to 6 - C went back to France - to 9 - three French teachers visiting from France - attracted a two-point more-than-8-on-the-team penalty. Our final score - 70 (read: 68) was not enough to get us in the place-getters. Note to self, and others: we are never doing This, That or The Other as a bonus round again! We are much better at straight answers rather than multiple choice! But we did earn some drinks vouchers (one for everyone at the table) when we successfully answered the Baffler question (first round - as did two other teams): it's a hassle when you lose me. (I'll post the answer tomorrow).