hedgehog orphans and spooky ghosts

Yesterday the weather forecaster was full of doom. He put on a very serious face and said it was bad news for anyone on holiday because it would just rain, rain, rain all day long. Luckily, He lied. I think he might just like putting on the doom-laden face and scaring us all.

And talking of scary...Twin 1 and Son went to Dartmouth castle with Grandparent. They said they'd heard a ghost, although Son said he thought there might be hidden microphones (he must mean loudspeakers?). Anyway, they heard ghostly rustling and whistling, which is all very Scooby-doo and exciting.

Meanwhile, Twin 2, other Grandparent and I were in Dartmouth at the doctor's. Twin 2 told him cheerily about being at death's door but refused to wee into a pot. She said that she didn't want the doctor to have her wee. Fair enough.

We hung about in Dartmouth for about an hour and a half, hoping she'd change her mind. She didn't.

Grandparents discovered some orphaned hedgehogs in the garden (the hedgehog mum was run over and Grandparents' dog ate one of the siblings, so they were a bit traumatised - oh, the cruel ways of the country!). Son and Grandparent took them to the hedgehog hospital in Newton Abbot, where they were put in an incubator (hmm, kind of odd juxtaposition coming from Kathmandu, where the streets are full of festering half-dead dogs, and most of the populace don't have access to decent medical care, and then to come here, where we have incubators for baby hedgehogs. It's great that our hedgehogs - which the children imaginatively named 'Hedge' and 'Hog' - have a chance to live. However, the money spent on running the hedgehog hospital here could probably fund a real hospital in Nepal).

Tomorrow we might go to Bury Pomeroy, another haunted castle (hurrah for Grandparents' English Heritage cards, which get us free entry to Haunted castles throughout the country - someone should tell Scooby and Shaggy about English Heritage), and I don't care what the gloomy weatherman says.

Bye x