Ups and Downs

Up bright and early this morning to try to get my car washed before taking everyone swimming but after succeeding in eating breakfast uninterrupted things took a bit of nosedive. I successfully obliterated my nearside wing-mirror reversing out of, or more accurately into, the garage, and the Parts shop was shut, it being a Sunday. Luckily, the Haynes manual suggests that on this occasion even I ought to be able to handle the repairs. I'll pop round to the Parts shop again going to or from work tomorrow. I washed the car anyway; it scrubs up well and seeing it gleaming always makes me feel better.

Then, off to Wokingham's Carnival Pool for an hour's swim to work off a few pounds before nipping across the road to Burger King to put even more back on. Normally we don't do BKs after swimming but on this occasion we did (much to the kids' delight), primarily to let us shoot straight down to Winchester to have a snoop at the villages and suburbs around there. My wife has identified a good secondary school in the area and when the time comes for our daughter to leave her current primary school we would like to have moved and be in situ so that she can claim a place there. Likewise for our son.

The countryside around Winchester looks largely unspoiled and Littleton in particular caught our eye. There seemed to be a good mix of different types of houses in the village and a good community spirit (a soccer game was just finishing as we arrived and it seemed very well attended). Unfortunately I think the current residents agree: there wasn't much up for sale. Another plus was the good access to major roads, which is a must for me as I'd be adding about 45 minutes to my journey to work. I don't mind: extra time alone in the car is no hardship and if the school's good and my wife's happy, so am I!