Half term already???!!!

How can it possibly be half term? We've only just finished 'summer'. School, as Alice Cooper says, is Out (as of yesterday - today was 'Inset').

Instead it became a cooking day - Halloween cupcakes for Brownies with H7 (see Cooking is a Game You Can Eat) and a long-ago promised batch of 'play dough' (aka bread dough and yes, it is still edible) for R5.

It's also been a thoroughly confusing day which followed an uncomfortable night. Brian decided (abetted by silly me) that last night was a good night for a bottle (each) of Hobgoblin ale. Tasty stuff. Made me very sleepy. Soothed the annoyance of that odious little man on Question Time.

Then, in the middle of the night, I was woken by blood-curdling wails. I dragged myself out of the dark, deep depths of sleepland, got (fell?) out of bed, headed unsteadily for the bedroom door and walked smack into the wardrobe.

WTF is in Hobgoblin ale? Evil stuff. It robbed me of my sense of balance in the middle of the night, right when I was being called upon by R5 to soothe after a vivid nightmare involving monsters (and no, she hadn't had any Hobgoblin ale at all).

I eventually climbed along the wardrobe to the bedroom door and beckoned to child to join me in the comfort of the parental bed which, unlike the floor, was relatively stable underfoot.

A few cuddles later and R5 headed back off to bed (she's never been one to spend all night sleeping with mum and dad - she likes her own bed best) and I accompanied her, sliding carefully along the wardrobe, through the door and along the landing. By the time I made it back to the safety of my own bed my brow was beaded with chilly beads of cold sweat and the bedroom floor was lurching like a ship in the teeth of a perfect storm.

In the morning I had an achy bruise inside my head and still (6pm) feel slightly lopsided. Highly alarming. I shall stick to Sauvignon Blanc from now on; Hobgoblin ale is evil.