Dengineers

One terribly excited young boy exploded into my room this morning full of 'early bird spirit'. "You'll never guess what I've just watched?"....from bleary eyes I ask him to open my second curtain to inform the neighbours that I'm not really still in bed at 9am on a Saturday morning! "Hmmmm?" I try to gather my thoughts as brain slowly engages in action....."Tiny pops?".........."Errr, Noooo! I've just watched Dengineers! It was amazing mum! These guys just created this underground den and it was big and covered with grass! It was a bunker mum!"

Good morning me! What kind of day will today bring?

 He peers out of the window...."Is Archie at school today?" "No". "No!......is it Saturday?"....."Yeah!"...."Yeeeeaaaaah! Girls (he runs off yelling down the corridor) girls, it's Saturday! No work today!"

Big sign....arrrr! Please no, I cannot begin to think about building a den today, not an outside one anyway it's freezing!

"Mum, I wonder if the Dengineers would come to our house and build me a den? Steve Bachel was there too, he's cool!" (Hmmm, yes, I recall he is!)

My mind wonders what sort of den he would assign the team if they did come? He's terribly bossy these days and has very clear set ideas about how things must be.
This boy has always been a den builder. Right from those very early days having to replace the sofa cushions, the chairs and all the blankets has been a regular thing, sometimes several times a day. Recently, I had a client call round and having just tidied the house I beaconed them into my sitting room to show me their garment that needed altering and .......well, you couldn't get more than a foot from the door! The entire floor space had been consumed!

I remember once hearing a Radio 4 programme on the subject. They stressed the need and importance of the activity. I just didn't imagine it would last for so long. The presenter expressed the process as a vitally important act that could be likened to a caterpillar emerging from a cocoon. Hmmmm!

For the past two days F has been busily sawing short pieces of wood in the sitting room (my kindling actually!). When I asked what he was doing he suggested he had decided to make a bird box to sit on the tree stump we have remaining after a partially dead tree was removed. 'What a great idea', I thought! Yesterday a change of plan was announced and said short planks are to now be used to create steps up the trunk to a newly created platform. A platform that is to become a treehouse when time permits! The tree is very small.......

Please do not assume that I have in anyway tried to hamper plans for a den of mass proportion. During the Summer months I did indeed engage in a building project in the famous 'field behind our house'. I made a rugged tipi type structure and covered it will an old green gazebo cover. It was admired for a short while and even played with, just a little, but now the focus has moved on and a new den needs to be constructed in a different location.

The joys of being a woman raising a boy!

Watch this space.....