Rock Club and rock drop

Public holidays on the island really suck. Today was one. All the shops are closed, and there’s not really anything to do other than sit at home, unless you happen to have planned something with people. Anyway, we heard that there was going to be a boot sale at the Rock Club (Half Tree Hollow) today, so guessing at the time, we tootled off at 10, just after the boys’ school session. There wasn’t anyone around except for one person, who informed us that the thing would start at about 12 / 12.30. Bit of a bummer since we were all dressed up with nowhere to go, and Nick had a recording session set up for 12.30. So we went home, and arbed around until lunch time, then I dropped Nick off in Gordon’s Post and drove all the way back down Constitution Hill, up Ladder Hill and to the Rock Club, where there were three or four tables set up with a pathetic array of goods. I bought the boys a second-hand plane and a motorbike for 50p and 30p respectively which they think are wonderful. There wasn’t anything else to do there so we left. Nick phoned just after 2.30 to say he was finished. I fetched him, and suggested that we go back to the Rock Club because I had gotten the impression that it was going to be an all-afternoon thing. He was happy to go back, so we went all the way down Constitution Hill again and up Ladder Hill – instead of taking a short cut through Knollcombes! Well, this time there was a jumping castle set up, and although there were no more goods for sale than previously, there were a lot more people. They were pumping out Afrikaans sakkie musiek on their music system, can you believe it. The boys played racing cars on arcade machines, then jumped on the castle, then we bought them ice-creams, and then went home.

At home, we scattered in different directions. The boys went to play outside, and presently we heard Caleb scream, and on investigation found that Aaron had dropped a rock on him from the ladder. Why Aaron was up the ladder with a rock (and how he got there) is a mystery, but the rock fell on to Caleb’s shoulder and it is quite badly bruised. Only by God’s grace was it not as bad as it could have been. It didn’t need cleaning up because the skin didn’t seem to be broken, and he refused any pain medicine but was very pale. Aaron got a thorough walloping from Nick, I don’t think he’ll be throwing rocks around again. At least not until next week. Caleb wanted us to strap his arm to his side, because it hurts when he moves it. This we didn’t do. I told him his brain would make sure that he doesn’t shuffle about too much, and he was worried that his brain will be sleeping. I explained that his brain still tells his heart to beat and his lungs to breathe while he’s sleeping, but then he was worried that his brain wouldn’t be able to do three things at once.