I did not know that it was possible to turn cupcake making into an extreme sport.

This afternoon, while baking chocolate cupcakes, Emily managed not only to get her hand tangled in the electric beater (no serious damage done, thank goodness, but it was very painful), but also to drip big globs of bright red blood all over the floor (because she'd knocked the scab off a sore on her toe and hadn't noticed till she'd made the kitchen look like an abattoir.)

The cupcakes did turn out very successfully, though.

Yesterday's anniversary celebrations were very successful too.

We didn't manage the fondue, because we couldn't find that solid fuel fondue burner stuff in any of the shops we tried. The fact that I don't actually know what it's called, here or in any other country, made the conversations with shop assistants who were completely preoccupied with thoughts of the football and thus even more uninterested than usual in customer service, that much more torturous.

Eventually, we gave up in despair, and went to plan B, which was pizza and coke for the kids at home, and a meal out before the movie for Bobby and me. We didn't have anywhere in particular in mind, so we wandered around the pedestrianised area close to the cinema till we found something that appealed. Which turned out to be a Nando's. Rather more upmarket here than in South Africa (proper plates, and wine), but the food tastes just the same, so that was a nice nostalgic experience. We ate outside, since the weather is still beautifully hot (it was 30C yesterday!) and watched the football fans go by.

The film was excellent. Not perhaps the most appropriate anniversary fare, since it deals with a divorce and its impact on the sons of the family. But it was extremely watchable; sad but never sentimental, with lots of bitter-sweet humour thrown in. I highly recommend it.

It was ten o'clock when we got out of the cinema, and it was still just light, and beautifully warm. These long summer evenings are fantastic. It was dark by the time we got home though (we'd seen the movie in Croydon) and there was a full moon, so we stopped off at the view spot at the top of Reigate Hill for a while, to appreciate the evening.

A lovely anniversary.

I am rather dreading tomorrow, though. I am helping out with a Year 8 Geography trip. We're taking the train to London Bridge, and then whisking around various landmarks, including (I think) the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament, and the Globe theatre ... I think there are about eight places altogether. I am not looking forward to this in the least, since I gather that each adult is going to be assigned his/her own group, and we'll all be heading off in different directions. So wish me luck - the scope for something going wrong seems enormous. Possibilities that immediately spring to my mind include getting lost as a group, losing one or more individual group members, having one or more group members drown in the Thames, or get electrocuted on the third rail, or get run over by a bus. Or some combination thereof.

Plus, the Geography teacher, has, in her wisdom, planned the trip so that we'll be travelling in and out of central London during the peak morning and evening commute times, when there are no seats available because the trains are absolutely packed with grumpy business people who have no tolerance for noisy thirteen year olds. This will doubtless lend a whole extra dimension of wonderfulness to the trip.

So wish me luck, I'll need it.